My Wish for You
by VilyaSage
Summary: Chapter Eleven! Marina watches the stars change to sunrise, and finds something she thought she'd lost forever. For you newcomers: This is a story about Lemuria in the not-so-distant past, and how it changed, through the eyes of one girl. R&R! Vil
1. Beginning

My Wish for You

A/N: Here's the deal. First of all, this is going to start out sort of like writing in a diary, and then switch to first-person storytelling, and then maybe back again mid-chapter. After a couple of chapters, I promise you'll get the idea. The character here is about the equivalent of a seven or eight year old. But in Lemuria time is different. But that means it's going to be like a seven or eight—ok, she's seven—year old is thinking and speaking.

This is a story about Lemuria. Lemuria the way it had once been. The way it should still be. It is told by a girl whom we (TLA players, anyway) all know…and yet we can never know. And it will follow her until present-day…which may just be a future. 

Disclaimer: No, I did not just pluck some random Lemurian from the street. You know her. And I don't own her. I own her name, though. Her brother's name too. Several things in Lemuria here that are not in TLA-Lemuria are mine too, I suppose. That's about it though…oh. I do literally own her birthday. *grins*

Chapter One: Beginning

1 October, Year 94, Mars Century 

            _Winter will come soon, they say. I love winter. It's my favorite time of year. The Season of Mercury, winter's called. It's autumn now—Mars season. It's getting cold outside, and everyone keeps telling me to wear warmer clothes and not run so much. But they tell me that all year long. I get sick of it sometimes._

            _My birthday was yesterday. This was my present. They said it was special, that the pages never ended, but I don't believe them. It has to end somewhere. Everything does. Except maybe the sky. I think that goes on and on until you can't go anymore, and keeps going after that._

            _Leon took me to town with him today. It was fun. I even got to play in the leaves. I don't know what Leon was so nervous about…_

            "Alright, you can go out with your brother, but come back before lunch. And take a scarf with you, for Mercury's sake, Marina! It's getting chilly!" I really didn't see why they added that part. They were Mercury Adepts, like the rest of them—it wouldn't matter much if I caught a cold. 

            "Leon, you watch out for your sister," Papa said to my older brother. I don't know how much older. Not many people talk about their ages. I don't know why that is either. Something you find out when you're small is that you don't know a lot, but it seems like everyone else does, and they don't want to tell you.

            "Sure, dad," Leon said, smiling down at me. "Come on, Marina. Let's go." I happily took my brother's hand. We walked out the door and into the bright sunlight. I still loved looking at my home, even though I looked at it every day when we went out. The giant white pillars and statues were so beautiful, especially when all the pretty autumn leaves were blowing everywhere in the wind. 

            We stopped first at the market, to buy food, mostly fresh vegetables and fruit. I picked up an orange, which was pretty big in my small hands, and then got another. I threw them together into the air, frowning when they didn't make the circle pattern they were supposed to.

            "What are you _doing_, Marina?" Leon asked me.

            "Juggling," I said. 

            "Oh. Well, come on, we have other places to go." I didn't mind not being able to juggle anymore, though. I wasn't very good at it anyway. 

            Outside the market, a bunch of kids had piled the leaves from the trees into a big hill, and were taking turns falling from a low branch into the big pile.

            "Leon! Leon! Come on! This is fun!" called one of them. I think his name was Iason. 

            "I don't know if I should," Leon said uncertainly. "I need to get this stuff home."

            "Come on, brother!" I shouted, running toward the leaf pile. With a leap, I grabbed onto the lowest tree branch and pulled myself up.

            "Marina! Get down from there!" Leon called urgently. I looked down at him. His face looked scared. I wondered why. There was nothing to be scared of. A couple of boys younger than me, and smaller, had done this already, and nothing had happened to them.

            "What for?" I asked stubbornly.

            "It's dangerous! You could hurt yourself!"  
            "If I weren't here, you'd be up here too! Isn't it dangerous for everyone?"

            "Marina!"

            I ignored him. Sometimes he was a real pain, the way he tried to protect me all the time. There was nothing dangerous up here except maybe the higher branches, and I didn't need those. I only needed that one right next to me. It was right over the leaves, and it would be fun to drop into them.

            I jumped to the next branch and balanced on it, grinning down at the kids around the pile. Laughing, I jumped out far, crossing my legs in the air and landing _fwoosh_ right in the middle of the pile. Still laughing, I crawled out of the pile and helped build it again for the next kid. I was running back with an armful of leaves when someone grabbed my shirt collar and the leaves fell.

            "Hey!" I yelled, turning around. "Leon, what was that for? I was having fun!"

            "You'll tire yourself out if you keep doing that," was all he would say.

            "I will not! I'm not tired at all! How come you get to have all the fun all the time, and I have to sit inside and never get to play? Well? How come?" I was mad. Everyone was always telling me I'd get too tired, every time I tried to have some fun. 

            "Marina…look, if I let anything happen to you, Mom and Dad would be very angry with me."

            "Nothing's going to happen! I was helping clean up the leaves!"

            "We have to take the food home, though." He said that in the voice that meant there was no arguing about it. With a long sigh I followed him up the steep hill to our house. 

            "Lemuria's big," I said, looking out at how everything was in fall colors. "Pretty, too." Smiling at me, Leon reached down and picked up a star-shaped leaf that had turned a bright golden yellow. He handed it to me.

            "It's the color of your eyes, Marina," he said. I grinned at him. His eyes were darker, like a green with gold over top. His hair was the same light blue as everyone else's, except for four people. My mother and I had darker hair, the blue of the ocean rather than the sky. King Hydros has hair like that, but it was starting to go grey, people said. I guess that meant he was very, very old.

            The fourth person, I didn't even remember being from Lemuria. I think he came from somewhere over the sea, maybe from the continent of Gondowan, because his hair was not blue at all. It was a sort of orange-yellow, and his eyes were yellow too. Not gold-yellow, but fire-yellow. He followed the king around a lot.

            "Marina! Don't just stand there! Come inside!" 

            "Coming, Mama," I said sadly. It was too nice a day to be stuck inside again.

            "Did you have fun?" Papa asked. Grinning, I nodded.

            "I got to climb the big tree and jump into the leaf pile and I even tried to help them clean it up, only _Leon_ stopped me, I don't know why, it wasn't like I was trying to do something wrong…Mama? Papa? Why do you look mad?"

            Mama's face was white, and Papa's was very red. But both of them looked mad at Leon, not at me. And Leon looked scared.

            "Papa! Leon didn't do anything! He didn't even climb up in the tree!"

            "Leon, we told you not to let Marina do anything dangerous," Mama said. Leon looked at the floor and nodded.

            "I know, Mom, but—"

            "No buts, young man!" Papa screamed. I backed away. Why were they yelling at Leon? He tried to get me to come down. I didn't listen because I didn't want to. "Your sister could have gotten seriously hurt!"

            "I know, Dad. I'm sorry." Leon sounded like he wanted to cry. Before Papa could say anything else, I stepped in front of my brother and held my arms out at my sides. 

            "DON'T YELL AT HIM!" I screamed. "He didn't do anything wrong! Besides! You're all Mercury Adepts! It wouldn't matter if I got hurt! You could fix me! Leave him alone! He even tried to get me down! I'm the one who didn't listen! Yell at me if you want to yell at somebody!" 

            "Marina, that was uncalled for," Mama said quietly.

            "But it was true. You said I should always tell the truth." When I said that, Mama got a strange look on her face. I didn't know the word for what it was. It kind of looked like she'd swallowed something nasty.

            _After that, Leon promised me that when the first snow came, we could go sledding and build a snowman. But it would have to be a secret. He couldn't tell me why, but he said it would be fun, to have a secret spot where we could play._

            _It rained for the rest of the day anyway, so I didn't get to go back outside. Everyone was real quiet at dinner, like they were supposed to be saying something but they forgot how. Leon left most of his food on the plate and just walked upstairs. I heard him say something about telling the truth, but I didn't hear it all_.

            "Leon?" I asked quietly. His room was dark. He must have blown out his lantern. "Leon, are you asleep?"

            "Yes," was the answer.

            "If you were asleep you wouldn't say that."

            "Fine, fine, no, I'm awake. What do you want?" Leon sat up and lit the lantern again. He looked very sad. I walked over and hugged him. "What was that for?"

            "You looked like you needed a hug," I said.

            Leon smiled. "Thanks, sis. You really are something, you know that? We're lucky to have you around. Who else can keep Mom and Dad in line?"

            "Why do they get angry when I play?"

            "Mom and Dad are overprotective, that's all. Before…don't tell them I told you this. Before you were born, they had another baby girl. But she…she didn't live, Marina. So when they had you…you were so little. I remember. And you won't be a kid for a very long time, you know. You'll grow up fast."

            "But I haven't even ever fallen over. Unless I did when I was very little. And…can you keep a secret?" If I told Leon this, he couldn't tell anyone. I knew it would make Mama and Papa angry again.

            "Sure, sis. What is it?" 

            "I'm a Mercury Adept!" I said happily. Leon laughed. "It isn't funny!"

            "Everyone's a Mercury Adept here, sis."

            "I mean I'm a real one! I can make waves in the spring water! Bubbles too!" 

            Leon stopped laughing and looked down at me. He seemed so tall. He looked like he was thinking very hard about something. Finally he grinned at me again.

            "I bet you'll make a great Adept, Marina. You're so kind, and gentle. I won't tell Mom and Dad. I promise. Now go to bed. It's getting late."

            I smiled at him and walked back to my bedroom. The kitten was there, asleep on top of my quilt. I scratched her behind her ears and pulled down a book from the shelf. I couldn't read some of the words in it yet, but it had pictures, and maps, done in bright colors. One of them was Lemuria. It _was_ big.

            Looking at it, I found our house, and the King's Palace, and the Senate House. The fountain was right in the middle of Lemuria, and there were stores that sold everything you could think of. There was the old abandoned house up on the hill on the other side of Lemuria; the one everyone said was haunted. The doors were locked from the inside, though, and no one could figure out how to get in.

            _I just yawned. Maybe it is late after all. I should go to bed. Even though I know the pages have to end sometime, I still think this is a great birthday present. I even found a good hiding place for it. Mama and Papa would be very angry if they found out I knew how to be an Adept, so they can't read this and know. Good night._

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Well? Things are so simple when you're just a little kid and you don't have to worry about much stuff. Marina's a smart girl, though. She knows that there's something people aren't telling her. If you're wondering, or really to prevent you from wondering, no, I am not going to cover every single day of this Lemurian girl's long (and yet short) life. The next few will still be when she's small, but she'll get older. And you'll know who she is once I give away the giveaway detail. But not yet. 

Enough of my ramblings. Go on. Leave a review!


	2. A Look I Don't Know the Name for

My Wish for You

A/N: You guys seem to think I'm going to just tell you everything right from the start. I say, NO WAY! But to the nine of you who read and reviewed chapter one, I owe a good deal of thanks. 

**Alex and Akiko:** You can't tell anyone! You can't! It's a **secret**!! 'Be vewy vewy quiet…we're hunting wabbits…' or something! But shhh!

**Midnight C:** Oh my gosh! Midnight reviewed! WOW! It's interesting that all three of you, there, above, automatically assumed Picard would be in this. Ok, I have to tell you, yes, he will be…but it's not what you're expecting.

**0==|=R=a=g=n=a=r=o=k=:** Afraid I can't tell you that, that I can't. Suppose you'll have to read more, if you're curious. *shudders* and don't call him 'Piers'. 

**heatherthegreatone:** No, it isn't Mia. Nice guess though. Someone noticed that I had to make the writing sound like a seven-year-old! Hallelujah! 

To the rest of you: I won't give it away just yet. If you think you know…don't say anything!! Read on!!

Chapter Two: A Look I Don't Know the Name for

4 December, Year 94, Mars Century

         _It snowed today! Finally! I've been waiting so long…adults can get real boring with the way all they think about is whether or not you're going to hurt yourself. Leon kept his promise and took me to a secret spot. We got up real early and left before Mama and Papa even woke up!_

         "Hurry up and eat, Marina," Leon said with a smile. "Today's the first winter snow!"

         "Okay," I said. Up to now we had been having the kind of winter that was very cold and where dark clouds blocked out they sky, but there was no snow. 

         Very quietly, Leon and I put on warm winter clothes. Smiling and making the 'quiet' sign, he opened the door and I followed him out. Snow was coming down in clumps the size of one of my fists. It was already in high piles everywhere, even on the tree branches.

         "Come on, Marina," said Leon. "There's a secret place I want to show you."

         "Is it far?"

         "Not very."

         "Oh."

         "Why do you sound so dejected?" Leon was fourteen. He knew these big words. But I knew that one—it meant sad.

         "Because if it's far away then Mama and Papa can't find me and lecture me about not being dangerous."

         "Not being _in dangerous places_, you mean."

         "Right. That." 

         Leon got the sled and both of us sat on it, and he reached out and pushed off. The sun wasn't even really over the ocean yet, and everything was a nice blue color. It was fun to ride down the big hill and laugh without any adults saying it was too dangerous.

         At the bottom of the hill Leon picked up the sled and started walking. I followed him, hopping into his big footprints with my little feet. 

         "I've never been out this early before," I said. "It's chilly."

         "The sun hasn't made things warm yet. Besides, winter's supposed to be cold." Leon started to walk faster, and it got harder for me to keep up. It wasn't really snowing anymore, but it was still very cold.

         Finally we stopped. Leon was standing in front of one of the cliff caves.

         "In here," he whispered. I walked in first. The cave's front was right near the beach, and its back was hard rock. Towards the back, too, was a hole in the ceiling. In the hole I could see the sunlight starting to show up.

         "Leon!" I yelled. "Look! It lets light in all by itself!"

         "Yes, it does. The snow falls through the hole, too, see? Come on outside and we can make snowmen!"

         "Snowmen!" I'd made a snowman last year, but it fell over when some mean kids had knocked it down. This one would be one nobody would find. 

         _We spent the whole morning making snowmen. There were four of them, two big ones, one middle one, and a small one. Mama, Papa, Leon and me. We came home for lunch, and even though Mama was kind of mad that Leon and me had gone out so early, she was happy because we had fun, and she said that to me._

         _Sometimes I think that Papa, Leon and Mama are hiding something. I think they're keeping secrets. They look at me funny sometimes, with a look I don't know the name for. Like they feel bad for me, I think. But I don't know why. But then Leon did something that scared me. He started acting like them._

         It was still cloudy after lunch, but Leon and me went back outside anyway. Leon's friends were all at the big hill sledding, and we went to sled with them. Iason was there. I think he's Leon's best friend.

         "Come on Marina," Iason said, lifting me up and putting me on a sled. With a push, I went flying down the hill. It was fun. The wind made my scarf and my pigtails fly out behind my head. I remember laughing really hard. At the bottom the sled stopped real fast, and I forgot to hold on, and went flying out. I landed in soft snow and I didn't get hurt, just kind of cold.

         A strange thing happened after I landed though. Everything got harder to see, like looking through a kaleidoscope, only it was wavy. I saw Leon coming down the hill too, on another sled, and I thought he looked scared. 

         "Marina!" he yelled, and I blinked, but it didn't go away. I was getting scared too. I wanted it to go away. I didn't like seeing things like this. Leon stopped and ran over to me, looking at me the same way a lot of adults did. Like there was always something wrong.

         "Stop it, Leon!" I said, and he looked at me in a strange way. "You're just gonna say the same thing Mama and Papa say, that I shouldn't be having any fun!" I got up and ran, but before I did I saw Leon giving me that look. Like he was sorry for me. 

         I ran all the way down to the beach, to the cave where the snowmen were standing outside. I went inside the cave and I sat in the back, behind where the light came down. Even my own brother was going to be protective of me. I cried some, but it didn't take long for me to fall asleep.

         It was odd. Usually when I sleep, I have dreams. But this time I didn't have any. I remember Leon waking me up, telling me that he was sorry I thought he was being like Mama and Papa. He said he shouldn't have done that, because he knew it made me angry. 

         "Are you alright, Marina?" he asked. I looked up at him and smiled. It didn't look all wavy anymore, it looked like it was supposed to.

         "I'm cold," I said. "I fell asleep in here."

         "It took a long time to wake you up, too," Leon said, and he frowned. 

         "What's wrong?" I asked. He looked like he was thinking really hard about something. 

         "I chased you, but I hurt my hand on a thorn bush," he said, holding his hand out and showing me. His glove was gone, and there was a scratch on it.

         "You can fix it," I said. He could, too. He was already good at using Mercury powers.

         "I know I can. I want to know if _you_ can, Marina." He looked at me and smiled.

         "But…me? I…what if I do it wrong? What if I can't?"

         "Have you ever tried?"

         "No. I think it would make people…not mad, but something else. That look they give me. Like they're happy for me but sad for me at the same time."

         "That…" Leon looked at me, and I knew that look. It was the same look I gave him sometimes, when he did something great and amazing. I think he was surprised that I knew they looked at me that way. "That look, Marina, is pity. But no one should pity you. You have more fun than anyone else I know, because you have all the innocence and open-mindedness of a child, but you're smarter than a lot of older kids, and even some adults, I know. You're the greatest, Marina. If…if Mom and Dad look at you with pity, you should tell them not to."

         "Is it bad?"

         "No. It's not. But there's nothing to pity you _for_."

         "Oh." I knew that he had just said something that was supposed to make me feel happy and good inside, and I did, even though I didn't understand all of it. I smiled at him. I was glad he was my brother. He stood up for me, and he knew that adults were boring and worried too much. 

         _Leon asked me to try anyway, with his hand. I was afraid I would hurt him if I couldn't do it, but he told me I couldn't, so I tried. And I did it! It really worked! I was so happy. Leon hugged me very tight and we both laughed a lot. He said, didn't he tell me I'd be good at it, and I said yes. And then I cried. I knew that sometimes adults cried because they were happy, but I used to think that was just silly. Not anymore. I cried because I was very happy._

         _We came home, and Leon apologized for losing his glove and being out late, but he didn't say anything else. He kept it secret! From Mama and Papa! I wonder if they would really be mad. Or upset. And he told them I knew that they looked at me with pity._

         _And they said no, they didn't. And I told them they did. I showed them how it looked. I think I surprised them, too, like I had Leon. I told them not to do it anymore. I told them not to be angry because I wanted to have fun, that I would never be dangerous on purpose. I think maybe they listened._

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Vil: Chapter two down. Several more to go. In the next chapter, she'll be older, ten years old. A bit more sophisticated writing, then. Ok…not much to say. Have a question or a comment, leave a review. And don't assume—you know what it makes of you and me ;) .


	3. Midsummer

My Wish for You

A/N: Several things. Last chapter, I lied. She's not ten, she's nine. She'd be ten if it were winter. Also, as you'll find out in about a minute or so, seventeen is the age of adulthood in Lemuria. That means that at seventeen, Lemurian children start drinking the spring water (draught, to some of you) and only age one year for every ten that passes. We clear? Any names that aren't Hydros, Conservato or Senate are mine. So much for disclaiming. Review response ahead!

**Kadevi chan:** It's not coincidence, but no, Picard and Leon are not the same person.

**Alex:** Obviously not lazy enough. You clicked 'submit' twice.

**Midnight:** It's not exactly pity. But I myself don't know the name of the look I see in my mind. As to why…if I told you that, there would go the mystery of Marina, right out the 14th floor window. When is Picard coming in? *evil cackle* Eventually.

**Akiko:** That's right, Garet, don't you dare let her tell.

**Jupiter Girl:** That brings something to mind. If any of you are just bursting to guess, you can email me about it (find the email in my bio—gah! I gotta update that bio…) and attempt an answer. No telling whether you'll be told if you're correct or not, though.

**Shiro Amayagi:** Yes, they're too different people. Nobody ask again.

Chapter Three: Midsummer

21 June, Year 97, Mars Century

            _Leon turned seventeen yesterday. In Lemuria, that makes you an adult. There's something that happens that involves the water in the big spring, but whenever I ask, no one tells. I asked him if that meant he'd stop playing with me, because I'm only nine and still just a kid. He said no, of course not, he was still my brother and always would be._

            _Mom and Dad still like to think I'm too dangerous for my own good, but I think because I'm older they're not so strict anymore. Maybe all parents are like that with little kids. Maybe they were even like that with Leon. He's never said so, but I bet they were._

            They weren't today, though. Leon's one of the oldest kids in the year he was born, because he was born on the day before Midsummer. So he got two parties, almost. It was fun, and everyone was there, even Grandpa, a grandfather I didn't know existed.

            "Happy birthday, Leon," I said, handing him my present. I wasn't too good at wrapping presents, but I figured Leon wouldn't mind, because he'd like what was inside better than any old wrapping. Besides, almost-round things were hard to wrap. 

            He opened it. It was almost round, and clear, with pretty rocks in the bottom. Other than that, it was empty. "It's a fishbowl," I said, making sure he got the idea. "To put a fish in," I added, because he was looking at me like maybe I had two heads, all of a sudden.

            "A fishbowl," he said, like he still didn't believe me.

            "Yes, Leon, a fishbowl! Is it wrong?" Suddenly I didn't know if maybe Leon didn't like my present. It was hard to think of something to give someone who was turning seventeen. Especially in the summer, when no one needed winter stuff. If it had been winter, I'd probably have made him something in the snow.

            "No, no, it's great," he said, smiling at me. "Not a fish in it, but still great."

            "Oh, I got a fish too," I said, looking at the ground. "It's a pretty blue one, and it kind of shines in the light, and it has long fins. But it's silly to wrap a fish! All the water will spill out and ruin the paper and the fish won't breathe."

            Leon laughed. I didn't really think it was funny, and it made perfect sense not to wrap a fish and kill it, and then where would your present be? I said so, again, and he did stop laughing.

            "Show me this fish, then," he said, and I led him to where I had it in my room, swimming in a bucket of water. Now that I was almost ten, Dad let me ride out on the fishing boats with him and some other sailors. This fish came in on a net and I knew it would be perfect.

            Leon poured the water and the fish into the little bowl and took it back to his room. He put it on his table and smiled.

            "Come on," he said, grinning. "There's a party going on outside." I ran to catch up with him. Even if it wasn't my birthday, I still loved birthday parties, and it was Midsummer, the perfect day, and the longest. 

            Everybody was gathered around the spring, talking and laughing and calling out. Rebecca and Iason were there. Rebecca is Iason's very little sister—she's only four. Iason and Leon went off somewhere, probably to play some game. Mom asked if I wouldn't mind watching Rebecca.

            I don't mind little kids usually, and most people think I'm a little kid myself, because I'm kind of short. We found a couple of other kids, John, Luke, and Alicia, and we all climbed the tree. I remembered the day John fell out of that tree. Nothing had happened to him, either, but I bet his parents were pretty mad.

            _We played for a while, until the sun started to set. There was a big picnic kind of dinner, and people were playing music. Until today I didn't even know Dad could play an instrument, but he had a flute. _

            _It wasn't a flute, really…it was more like…a flute played frontwards. Luke's mom played a regular flute, held out to your side and blown through. This one was different. It went down in front of you like a whistle, but it was bigger, and it sounded really great, like wind chimes. And there was a funny string on the end with a pretty silver tassel. _

            _After the sun was down all the way, people lit lights so that the whole spring was glowing, almost. And then Leon stepped up to it…_

            Leon was standing next to the big spring, looking into the clear water at the coins on the bottom. People threw in coins sometimes, for good luck. Mom and Dad were with him, so I ducked around people to get there too. 

            I started to say something, but right when I opened my mouth everyone got real quiet. I looked up and saw Mom and Dad and Leon looking at something, so I looked where they were looking and I wondered what everyone was staring at.

            A man was there, coming slowly through the crowd. They made room for him. Even some of the visitors from the mainland were here to celebrate Midsummer, and even _they_ moved. I didn't see what was so special about him. He was old, even, by Lemurian standards. He had two streaks of grey in his hair, one on either side of his head.

            "Why is everyone staring?" I asked Leon quietly.

            "Don't you know who that is?" he asked. I shook my head. "He's King Hydros!"

            I saw him now. That man, with the fire-orange hair and eyes that were the wrong sort of yellow to be Lemurian. He was grey at the edges, too. And he was following the king like John's dog followed him. 

            King Hydros said some stuff, but I forget what it was. I was watching the fire man. He kept grinning, but the grin was…wrong, somehow. Something else I didn't know how to describe. 

            Then Leon took a pretty silver cup and dipped it in the water, and drank it. I guess that was important somehow. Anyway, there were cheers and clapping and some more music, and in the middle of it all was King Hydros. But the fire man had disappeared.

            "Who is that man?" I asked Leon when we got home. I was in his room, sitting on his bed, twirling my finger in the water in the fishbowl. 

            "What man?" he asked, turning to look at me. He looked…different, somehow. Maybe just because he was older. Maybe because he was an adult now, and I guess he saw things differently.

            "The fire man. He had hair like flames, and he followed the king. And he kept…smirking."

            "That was Lord Conservato," Leon said, frowning.

            "Lord who?"

            "Lord Conservato. He's the head of the Senate. He basically makes the major decisions for Lemuria."

            "I thought that was King Hydros' job," I said, confused. I knew about the Senate, of course. Iason's father, and my own grandfather, were members. But if Hydros was king, shouldn't the major decisions be his?

            "He agrees or disagrees with the decision, but usually the support for Conservato and his Senate are so great that King Hydros agrees without much question. Usually," he added, "Conservato makes decent decisions."

            "Does that mean he didn't last time?" I asked. 

            "You're smarter than your age, Marina. Yes, it does. They're debating his most recent proposal as we speak."

            "What is it?"

            "He thinks that all connection to the mainland should be stopped. We can make our own livings, and we should stop depending on places like…well, like Kibombo."

            "Kibombo?" I asked, not quite saying it right but coming close.

            "Yes. They're a sort of…tribe-type civilization. They elect a leader through ritual, and they've been a source of trade for a while now. As it is today, none of them would dare steal from or harm a Lemurian."

            "Conservato thinks they will tomorrow?"

            Leon grinned at me, ruffling my hair. "Almost. He thinks they might someday, but probably not tomorrow. Now, it's late, and you should go to bed. And don't tell me I sound like Mom and Dad, either, you know it as well as I do."

            "Maybe I don't."

            "You know you're tired and I know you know it, and furthermore you know I know you know it," Leon said, and I laughed. "Go to bed!"

            _So now I'm here in my room, wondering about maybe not seeing some of the mainland people again. One of them, a tall man named Aaron, usually works on the same fishing boat as Dad. He's really strong, and he has hair like dark fire, instead of bright one like Conservato._

            _I don't know if never going between Lemuria and the mainland would be a good thing or not, but Leon doesn't make it sound good. It sounds like…like something I would read about in a book, where the bad guy tried to get the good guys by cutting them off from any help._

            _I am going to bed. I hate it when Leon's right, and he and I both know it._

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Vil: Well, the end of another chapter. Hope you enjoyed it. *sniffs* Do I smell a plot development? 


	4. A Storm with a Purpose

My Wish for You

A/N: I'm not gonna disclaim. You know what's mine and what is not. It's midnight-thirty-three and I'm not in the disclaim mood.

**Alex:** *innocently* Tennis racket? Me? *hides racket behind back*

**Akiko:** Now Garet, that's not nice. Don't make me send Jenna over there.

**Midnight C:** Orange, not red, but yeah, you get the idea. Then again, Aaron also has red hair, and when you see…well, that'd be telling.

**Jupiter Girl:** So it wasn't just me smelling things, hmm? I got your email. Sorry, but I can't tell you if you're right. Too many people already know.

**Heatherthegreatone:** Like I said, can't answer a guess. Gee, that's a trend in my stories, isn't it? First ALWHI, now this…and yes, that was a plug ;)

**Shiro Amayagi:** Nothing to be sorry for. No, this Aaron and Garet's kid brother are not related at all. I just needed a name.

Ok, now get to it!

Chapter Four: A Storm with a Purpose

24 August, Year 2, Mercury Century

            _I went out on the boat with Dad again yesterday. It was nice weather, perfect for fishing. How long had it been…a month or two, maybe, since I last was on a ship of any kind. Today the catch was good, though. And since I've learned how to play Dad's flute, he let me bring it along and play some, while the nets were out and no one was doing the heavy work. The flute sounds nice out on the sea. Almost like it was meant to be played out there._

            _I love it out on the sea. The wind blows and sends my hair out behind me and brings the smell of salt and sky and storms to come. And then Leon says I am being too poetic. He comes too, usually, when he isn't busy studying Psynergy. That is apparently what you get to do as an adult, for a while anyway. Practice Psynergy._

            _I guess no one but Leon really does know about that cave by the shore. I go there sometimes, when I'm not busy doing this chore or that one, and I practice my own Psynergy. Little things, like turning the water in the little puddles to ice. _

            _That reminds me. Aaron was on the boat yesterday, too. And he did something strange. It was something I'd never seen before_.

            I was sitting on the roof of the stairway that led below deck. I had the flute in my hand, but I wasn't playing it. I was staring out to the east, towards Lemuria. It looked beautiful in the afternoon sun, the light sparkling off buildings, statues and the top of the palace. 

            Of course, thinking of the palace made me think about the ongoing problem of whether or not to isolate Lemuria. Old enough to understand, I didn't like the idea at all. Many of my friends were mainland children who came to Lemuria to trade and to explore with their parents.

            King Hydros knew that being connected to the other cities, towns and villages of Weyard was vital. Conservato argued that we were in danger of losing our culture and possibly even the lives of our people. King Hydros would respond that such an incident was unheard of anywhere on Lemuria, and therefore was an absurd idea.

            I hoped with all my heart that King Hydros would win, in the end.

            They were hauling in the nets, now, and I could see even from where I was that there were many fish, and big ones. I waved to Leon, even though I knew he couldn't wave back to me. The only bad part about coming out to fish was that the entire return trip, the deck and its crew smelled like their quarry. 

            We were headed back for the docks when there was a warning shout. A storm had overtaken us, somehow completely unnoticed by anyone aboard, and the sky was darkening, the winds picking up and tossing the water about. 

            Aaron held out his arms, and he started glowing a bright purple. The gale winds surrounding us calmed again to soft breezes, and we were surrounded by a sort of energy bubble. Outside the immediate area of our ship, the storm raged, dumping rain that came just shy of my head before striking the barrier. Lightning flashed and I could hear thunder, but the sound was distant.

            The storm lasted for about an hour. The whole time, Aaron held that barrier. He never tired once. This was surprising, because from what Leon had told me an hour of continuous Psynergy usually left a person drained. I hadn't even known Aaron was an Adept, and that barrier certainly wasn't a Mercury power. As the storm abated, I jumped from my perch, inquisitive.

            Almost immediately afterward the barrier came down. There was little rain anymore, and the sky was clearing, but a crowd of crewmembers was gathered around Aaron, and I was shocked to find Leon pushing me aside.

            "Not now, Marina," he said, looking at me with an expression that said he was serious. That was enough to get me as far away as I could possibly get. Leon's almost never got a serious look on his face. Usually, he's laughing at something that, even if no one else knows what it is, he finds extremely humorous.

            _I went as far away as I could possibly get. When Leon gets that look on his face, you're better off being quite far away. It's the look of determined purpose, and may Mercury help anyone or thing that chooses to stand in his way._

            _Soon enough we were back at the docks. Mom was there, looking at the three of us like she never expected us to come back and was more than grateful that we had. She said she'd seen the storm pass over Lemuria faster than any storm she'd ever seen before, like it had a purpose, almost. Somehow I find that hard to believe. Lemurians are Mercury Adepts, and while that does mean we like rain, it doesn't give us control over weather. That sort of thing goes along with Jupiter power._

            _Coming back was something else entirely. The weather was nice again, of course, but I didn't even really feel like being outside._

            Mostly I stayed inside, reading or just watching out the window. I don't know if I was looking for something or just lost in my own thoughts. I did remember Leon leaving for something, and Dad going with him. I think I heard my name mentioned, but at that point I was almost asleep. 

            I did doze off, for a while, which was odd. I don't usually take even short naps during the day. By the time I woke up, Leon and Dad were back and I could smell dinner, either cooking or ready. I joined them at the table and ate, but everyone was unusually silent. It was like there was something hovering there, like a dark cloud, waiting to be said. 

            I'd have said it, if I'd known what it was. Finally, Leon did.

            "They think Aaron did it," he said, and I nearly choked on my food. Quickly, I swallowed and looked at Leon, confused.

            "Who thinks Aaron did what?" I asked. Dad and Leon looked at me gravely.

            "The Senate, or some of them, and some of the crewmen too, apparently, think that Aaron called that destructive storm on the boats. Several went down today in that maelstrom. A few people lost their lives. Not many, but any death will take its toll on a number of people," Dad finished, a sad look in his eyes.

            "But we were there, Dad, we saw Aaron try to _protect_ us, and the boat. He shielded us for the entire storm. It was amazing to watch. But the point is, he wouldn't send a storm to kill himself!"

            "Try and get Conservato to believe that," Leon said bitterly. Dad sent him a disapproving look.

            "They sent us home for dinner, but we went to the Senate building to see this, and to speak in defense of Aaron. Quite clearly, he has done nothing but try to aid us, to save lives. If only…" Dad trailed off, but I knew the end to his sentence.

            If only the Senate, or more importantly Conservato, had been there to see for themselves.

            "How did Aaron do it, anyway?" I asked. "Leon, you've told me about Psynergy, and you never mentioned barriers."

            "True, Mercury Psynergy isn't one that tends toward barriers. We are…" Leon paused, a look of odd confusion written on his face, as though it was quite hard for him to continue. "Aaron is not a Mercury Adept. He uses the power of Jupiter. This is why they suspect him of bringing a storm upon us."

            "Even the crewmen think he did it?" I asked, astonished. I realized how far behind the conversation I actually was, because Dad had mentioned crewmen a while ago.

            "Some of them. Those…those who are usually truthful, and…" Dad stopped, unsure, I guess, of how to phrase it.

            "Those loyal to Conservato will side with him," Leon said bluntly. Mom and Dad both looked shocked, but I only nodded. Obviously this was deeper than it seemed.

            "So maybe Conservato will use this as an excuse, albeit a farfetched one, to isolate Lemuria?" I asked. I had thought my parents' faces were shocked before. Now they seemed to have reached a level beyond shock. And there was something added to that shock—it reminded me of the long-ago days of pity, only on quite a harsher, more razor-edged scale. 

            "How do you know of this?" Mom asked breathlessly.

            "Doesn't everybody?" I responded, quite ignorant of the idea that maybe not everyone knew that this type of thing was being planned, or at least discussed.

            "No," Dad said calmly. "Not everyone does know. In fact half of Lemuria is quite in the dark about the situation. What interests me more is how my daughter discovered this, when I have done my best to keep it from her."

            "I told her," Leon said plainly. "Years ago."

            "Keep it from me! Why?" I asked at the same time. 

            "Leon, I thought you were adult enough to know better than to say these things, especially to a young child who cannot understand. And Marina, I only wanted to stop you from worrying. I didn't want to put an extra burden on you."

            "I haven't got any burdens as it is, save making sure my chores are done before the sun sets and there's not much light to work by," I said, suddenly suspicious. "How would it be an extra one? And in five years of knowing, I have worried a total of three times and honestly thought about the matter once. It is not anything pressing or overbearing."

            "And the two of you don't give Marina much credit. At nine, she was smarter than I was at that age, and she understood most of what I told her," Leon added. I smiled at him. That sounded more like the Leon I was used to—even with him being twenty-two years in age and myself just shy of a month from fifteen, he stood on my side in an argument. Defended me, too.

            "Leon, I'm surprised at you!" Mom said suddenly, quite an outburst for her. "Telling your sister about political matters at such a young age, especially when you know she's…" If I had thought Mom's eyes couldn't get any wider, I was wrong. They did, and she slowly covered her mouth with one hand.

            "That I'm what, Mom?" I asked, an unwelcome accusing tone in my voice. "That I'm wh—"

            I was cut off by a knock on the door. It was Iason and his father. They had come to tell Leon and Dad that they were being called back to the Senate building. Leon looked at me with a hint of a smile in his eyes, and I smiled back. Silently, he and Dad left again. The sun was just touching the horizon now, and I realized how late dinner had been. 

            With short instructions to clear the table, Mom hurried off into her room. I watched after her, still fuming inside. There was something they weren't telling me, and what made me truly angry was that it involved me in some way. I did as Mom asked and cleared the table, forming a plan in my mind.

            _I decided that the Senate business was far more important than whatever my parents were keeping from me, so after I was done with the table I quietly left the house. I headed to the building where the Senate met, silently walking along one side until I could look in the window and see what was going on. I remember everything they said in almost perfect detail._

            "He brought the storm, Hydros, there's no denying it," said the voice of Conservato. He motioned to where Aaron sat in a chair, head down, in a shadowed corner.

            "Surely, _King _Hydros understands that he would not have sent a storm out to the very ship he was working on." I enjoyed the emphasis Leon placed on King Hydros' title, and the tone of his voice, that of someone who would take no answers that went against his. 

            "Perhaps he didn't know he'd be needed on that ship today," Conservato said, sneering at my brother. 

            "He knew a week in advance that he'd be out with us today," spoke Iason's father. "We always make sure that the crew for any given week knows when and where they will be needed the following week. It's standard."

            "Do you deny the possibility that this storm was his work?"

            "Yes," said Leon and Iason together. The look Conservato gave them would have melted a snowman in the middle of January. 

            "No one who wished to harm us would protect us with a Psynergy barrier for over an hour," a woman argued. 

            "Perhaps his power got away from him and he realized that he would die if he didn't save the ship he was on," spoke a voice from the other side of the room.

            "Or he wished to make himself look innocent by using his power in defense, to throw the blame for this off of his shoulders," threw in another. Obviously these people were on the side of Conservato.

            "I think we are all overlooking the possibility that it was just an ordinary thunderstorm and nothing more," said King Hydros. Instantly the room grew quiet. The king had that effect on people. Despite his obvious age, he seemed to be just as young as my father, or even my brother, and he could present this image and still speak with the wisdom of decades. 

            "If it was so ordinary," Conservato said, his voice pure venom, "then how did it move so fast, and then halt directly over the fishing boats and drench them? No storm has taken Lemurian life before this, nor has there been one so violent or with such purpose."

            There was a collective quiet gasp. Very few people present had ever known anyone to openly defy King Hydros. But there were no more words, no more denials. Obviously the head of the Senate had some kind of power.

            Conservato chose that moment to look from the king to the window through which I was watching. I saw his face light up when he saw me, and a wicked grin became an evil smile. Turning, he whispered something to a tall boy behind him. That boy quietly and quickly headed for the back door of the building while the debate continued.

            I realized then what was going on. For some reason unknown to me, Conservato had sent that boy to come for me. I looked to the sun to find that it was three-quarters set. Soon it would be completely dark.

            "Come inside," said a voice behind me, and I turned to look into the tall boy's eyes. "Lord Conservato wishes to speak with you."

*^*^*^*

TO BE CONTINUED… 

************************************************************************

Vil: Pure evilness, isn't it? And hey—I'll be gone until Tuesday the 24th, but chapter five is done, so probably that day I'll be posting it. Until then!!

PS- My apologies for not answering any guesses with negative or affirmative, and I would ask that if you are going to guess, from now on please do so in an email to phoenixbright@yahoo.com instead of in a review. After all…suppose someone guesses correctly. Wouldn't that make the idea stick in everyone's minds?


	5. Unceasing Inquiry

My Wish for You

A/N: Same date, same day, same hour, even. Minute, if you want to get technical. Ok, right now I consider this the best non-battle-action chapter I've written yet (the end of SS comes quite close) and it's most certainly the longest. And Alex, Akiko and Feonyx will most certainly enjoy the chapter's other title.

Hey, I'm posting before I leave! Expect chapter six, not five, when I return!

**Elena (or Alex, whichever):** I think I'm having too much fun with this. D'you think you could drag Triad and VI over here to this ficcy?

**Akiko:** See, after the next chapter, you *can* review for youself!

**Jupiter Girl:** You'll love this. In fact…if you think Conservato's as much of a jerk as I do, you'll enjoy yourself immensely.

**Midnight:** Very nearly, Midnight. Next chapter, in fact. That's why I'm making you all wait a week for it. I'm almost as evil as you are with cliffhangers!

**Shiro Amayagi:** Now come on, killing Elena wouldn't be nice! If you did, you'd never hear the rest of her story.

Onward we go!

Chapter Five: Unceasing Inquiry (or, Running Circles around Conservato)

CONTINUED FROM THE END OF CHAPTER FOUR 

            _I let the tall boy lead me inside the Senate building. Instantly the room silenced. I could tell that several people there were quite surprised to see me, not the least of these being Leon and my father. _

            "Tell us, Marina, were _you_ on this fishing boat?" asked Conservato's venomous voice. Something I had heard long ago surfaced in my mind, and I held onto that thought.

            "What fishing boat?" I asked, quite innocently. This came as a shock to the side of the room that believed Conservato, but I could see some of them registering the fact that if indeed Conservato had just brought me in from nowhere, how would I know what he was talking about?

            "Your father's boat."

            "Several times over the past few years," I answered truthfully. Conservato sent me a withering glare, but I let it pass. Behind him I could see King Hydros giving me a shadow of a grin, and I heard quiet clapping from where Leon and Iason sat. 

            "Were you out there today?"

            "Yes." 

            "Tell me what happened on that boat," Conservato said icily. It was a struggle to hide my impending grin.

            "When?"

            "While you were out there today! What are you, an illiterate?" Conservato half-yelled. I appeared to ponder the question for just a moment.

            "No, sir, I can read and write just as well as anyone else my age," I said, again the truth. I knew what this was now. It was almost like a trial. Aaron's trial. I wondered, if he lost, what his penalty would be.

            Conservato's face, for a shadow of a moment, grew as red as Aaron's hair. There was no doubt about it, King Hydros was smiling now.

            "Why you insubordinate little—"

            "_Conservato_!" King Hydros yelled, his voice echoing off the walls and reverberating off of the domed ceiling. "There shall be no childish arguing or calling of names tonight. It demeans this girl's intelligence and makes you look like an arrogant, immature fool." 

            "My apologies, Hydros," Conservato said, barely in control of his voice. "I spoke without thinking."

            "Indeed you did," said King Hydros, in a tone that emphasized this fact a thousandfold. "See that it does not happen again."

            "What happened on your father's fishing boat today, Marina?" Conservato asked again, his eyes conveying that he knew what sort of game I was playing. 

            _But no_, I thought, mentally grinning, _you have no idea_.

            "There was a good catch," I began, appearing to have to think very hard about this. "Lots of fish, and big ones. Perfect day for fishing. The flute sounded nice, I remember."

            "And then?"

            "And then…what? You are asking me for a happening after some other happening, but I would kindly request you to be more specific," I added, in the humblest voice I could manage, lowering my eyes to the floor. There were murmurs in the crowd. On the side of King Hydros, I heard a comment that they'd never seen anyone get this far in a game of wits with Conservato. Another remark stated that this was because I had a child's innocence to draw upon. 

            And from the side of Conservato there were jeers. Snide remarks. Outright cursing, from someone who was quickly sent out of the building. All the while my gaze remained intent on the design of the blue-and-violet tiles.

            "After the catch was hauled in, what happened?" Conservato asked quietly. I risked a glance upward. There was no kindness in his eyes, but there was something familiar there. It was pity. He pitied me.

            _More the fool is he, to pity wrongly and underestimate his opponents_, I heard a voice say in my mind. I froze in mid-speech. Had that been Aaron? _Yes, it's me, Marina. He underestimates you, and he thinks you fear him. Use that._

            "A crewman shouted that a storm had come up," I said, my voice sounding as though this had happened weeks ago, instead of earlier that day. "I looked up, and I saw it. Big dark clouds, there were, rolling in quickly. Crewmen were scurrying about, trying to get ready to face a cloudburst."

            "And then?"

            "The storm hit," I said plainly, shrugging as I did so, as though anybody could have guessed this and someone like Conservato obviously should have.

            "After that?"

            "Well, after that I saw the most amazing thing I have seen in all my life," I said, with as much conviction as I could summon. This would be the tricky part. I'd had a hard enough time keeping my head as it was, and for an odd reason that I didn't understand, and yet recognized immediately, my legs were on the verge of collapsing and taking me down with them. I could hear my heart pounding in my ears.

            _Am I nervous_? I wondered. _Afraid_?

            "And what was this amazing thing?" Conservato asked, his eyebrows rising in anticipation. I could see King Hydros, smile gone, looking at me almost pleadingly for a flash of a second. 

            "One of the crewmen, a man named Aaron, knelt at the bow of the boat and held out his arms," I began. "He closed his eyes and was surrounded by purple light, and a barrier surrounded our ship. I watched the rain hit the barrier just above my head and slide down, like water on a glass bowl. Nothing but the calm summer breeze touched our ship. It went on so for over an hour, and the whole long while the barrier was constantly surrounding us, never once flickering out or losing strength. Only when the storm abated did Aaron release his power, and I assume, though I could not see, that he collapsed. Continual use of Psynergy for extended lengths of time is draining," I added, quite certain that every adult in this room would agree entirely.

            "Did the storm appear…odd, to you?" Conservato asked. Inwardly, I grimaced. A new angle had come in.

            "Odd in what way?"

            "Just odd! Anything strange at all!"

            "Well…it was relatively short and unthreatening, for a storm in the waters of the Sea of Time," I ventured, and half of this was truth. The storms in the Sea of Time were known even in farthest Hesperia, on the western edge of the mainland, as quite vicious ones. 

            "Was it? Perhaps…perhaps made by someone who did not know the way of storms in this area?"

            "Are you suggesting that someone _unleashed_ a storm on our fishermen?" I asked, a note of shock in my voice. 

            "I am suggesting that this man has done so!" Conservato said, and with a motion of his hand Aaron was brought forward. In better light, he looked terrible. He was as pale as winter snow, and stumbled along as though in a daze, or half-asleep.

            "Aaron?" I asked. "Why would he send out a storm only to be caught in it himself? Why would he wish harm to any of us?"

            "He has been nothing but friendly to every member of my crew since the day he began work," Dad put in, standing. Leon stood with him, a determined look on his face.

            "He has aided us many times, with the help of his speed and strength," Leon said, green-gold eyes blazing. "He has not one mark against him in many long years."

            "You all know that the ocean is vast, and at calm times, flat," King Hydros said, and everyone's attention immediately focused on him. "Tell me, Marina," he went on in a genuinely kind voice, "before the storm arose, could you see any other ships nearby?"

            "Only one, your highness," I said, eyes on the floor out of respect this time. I would not play games with the King who was so loved by Lemuria. "Iason's father's ship, the _Poseidon_."

            "No other ships?"

            "None, your highness."

            "Iason," he said, and Iason rose. "Did _you_ see any other ships, aside from the _Seafarer_?" he asked, naming my father's boat.

            "No, your highness, and even that boat was hard to spot, so far apart in distance were we," Iason said, nodding respectfully and sitting again.

            "Marina, I must offer you my apologies," King Hydros said, and in surprise I looked up at him, meeting his bright golden eyes and a gaze that spoke sincere apology. "Lord Conservato, head of the Senate, had no right to bring you into this meeting, innocent of its purpose and quite obviously unwilling to come on your own. I assure you, it will not happen again."

            "My thanks, your highness," I said. Conservato glared at me again. I could almost see the wheels turning in his mind. There would be something coming in retribution for this, though in all aspect I had done nothing unlawful, wrong, or harmful to anyone. To bruise the ego of such an arrogant fool was nothing that would direly affect us for very long.

            "Surely, after hearing this, you will agree that the man Aaron cannot be responsible for this storm," Dad said in an almost pleading voice.

            "There is still no proof that it was not his," spoke a voice from the other side.

            "There is no proof that it was," one of our own side countered.

            "Excuse me," I said, making a guess at the one and only way out. Several dozen pairs of eyes turned my way, accompanied by many disapproving frowns and a few appreciative smiles. And one glare fit to kill a forest of the hardiest trees alive, courtesy of Conservato.

            "Speak," he said, in tones that would have had the trees that had not died scurrying for the nearest boat to Apojii. 

            "If this were a Psynergetically-created storm, would it not have some sort of glow to it, that would give away the element of the summoner?"

            "Perhaps."

            "Surely, even those crewmen who believe that Aaron is guilty of this cannot say they saw such a light and still be speaking truthfully," Leon said, obviously quite happy to relieve me of speaking duties. It was a welcome reprieve. I felt as though I would fall in a faint on the Senate building's polished stone floor, made a fool of in front of nearly all of Lemuria. 

            "He speaks the truth," agreed someone on Conservato's side. "There was no such glow, and as an Adept, I would have seen one the instant I spotted the storm."

            I walked over to where Leon and Dad were, and they offered me a seat, which I gratefully took. There were scant few more moments of debate, but the issue seemed settled. 

            "We are in agreement that Aaron did not send this storm to prey upon our fishing boats. He will not be forced to leave Lemuria," King Hydros added, seemingly in case Conservato didn't get it yet. "He will continue to be a member of the crew of the _Seafarer_ or any other boat that may require his assistance. Furthermore, he is commended for putting his powers to good use by shielding the boat and its passengers from harm."

            "Thank you, King Hydros," Aaron said in a hoarse whisper. My hand instinctively twitched, almost reaching for the Psynergy I had taken command of so early. But I stopped myself. Technically, I wasn't supposed to be so good at Psynergy yet. 

            "I share the deep sorrow of those whose family members were lost in the storm today," King Hydros said in a soft voice, and there were murmurs of agreement. "Let no blame fall on any man, woman or child in this room, or outside of it. We cannot control what the Elemental Spirits send upon us; we can only hope that it's for the best."

            With those words, everyone rose and began to leave. I stood and Leon threw his arms around me in a tight embrace.

            "You were wonderful!" he said, laughing with relief and, I thought, a hint of pride. "I have never seen or heard of such a feat. You bested Conservato in the game of law! You ran circles around him!" He let me go and smiled, beaming more than I could remember seeing in my entire life. I smiled back.

            "Leon, your father and I are going to see to a few things here," Iason's father said, and Leon nodded. "Why don't you and my son walk your sister home, and meet us back here?"

            "Sure thing, Dad," Iason said, grinning his somewhat-crooked grin. He and Leon walked outside with me, the three of us laughing with relief. I didn't exactly know what to be relieved for, as the night's events wouldn't catch up with me for a while yet. The sun had disappeared, and there was no moon, making the streets dark, and even a bit chilly, odd for a summer evening.

            _Iason and Leon began to talk about the first part of the meeting, the part I wasn't there for. I quickly tired of listening. Not to mention that I still felt tired myself. I began to pick up on the fact that Conservato was looking for a way, any way, to justify isolating Lemuria, and that I had played a major part in stopping such justification, and that left me with a satisfied yet exhausted feeling. Because of this I was steadily falling behind my brother and his friend. This didn't bother me much._

            I truly wasn't bothered by my inability to keep up until something tall and shadowy jumped from the side of a nearby building. I gasped, reflexively taking a step back. Not so tall, I noticed; just a few inches above my height, but whoever it was had surprised me. Another figure, similar in height, joined the first.

            "Luke, John, if that's the two of you, you're in for it," I said absently. They were forever jumping from behind trees, in bushes, and atop roofs to startle me. Granted, never before at night, but they were ever the pair for seizing opportunity. 

            I realized it was not them when one of the figures reached out and shoved me. Shocked, I stumbled backwards, landing hard on the ground. Neither John nor Luke would ever push me down like that.

            "Who are you?" I asked, no tremor evident in my voice but with my mind whirling in fear. 

            Instead of an answer, I received a kick in reply. I gasped, standing as quickly as I could and turning to run. Behind me I could hear shouts, but the two boys, for they must have been boys with their heavy footsteps, were gaining on me quickly. One of them lunged, grabbing my ankle and tripping me. 

            I fail to recall much of the next few minutes, only that they were painful ones, and that I did scream, but only once, and I did my share of fighting back. No one would ever attempt to beat me up without getting their share of bruises. I felt fists beating upon me like sledgehammers. In a fleeting moment, the world flashed into blackness, and I saw someone that looked very like Leon, on his knees in a cave, with rocks falling atop him and two concerned faces looking his way. And then the image was gone.

            In a flash of the blue light that signaled Psynergy, though not my own, I recognized the face of one of the boys. He had led me in to speak before the Senate. Conservato sent them, I realized.

            In a flash, the boys found themselves frozen to the ground, and I sprang up, ignoring several bruises and scratches, and ran. I only knew one place I could run to, one place where safety was guaranteed. Behind me I could hear them struggling as someone else set upon _them_. 

            There were many things to be found in that cave by the shore, after so many years of my going there with this or that and leaving it, either because I knew it would be well hidden there or just for the next time I came by. Included in this was indeed a blanket, though small. I could think of nothing to do but to just sit there, with my head against the back wall and the blanket over me.

            Conservato had sent…lackeys…to beat me up, and they had, like it was some children's fight. Some part of my mind registered that Iason and Leon would be worried, but another part remembered that Leon would know where I had gone, if I was not home. I always came here when home was too much to deal with.

            It must have been several hours later when I awoke. I was considerably warmer, but obviously still in the cave, for I could hear the sounds of the ocean as the tide moved up the sand. My eyes opened to be staring into a familiar other set of eyes. My brother's.

            Without a word, he put his arms around me tightly. I noticed that there were no more bruises or scratches, and in fact I might have just come here from home because I felt like it, if I hadn't remembered that Conservato's lackeys and I had fought.

            "This is personal, I take it," said a voice nearby. It was Iason, holding up a hand that glowed blue with Psynergy light. "It was dark in here," He offered in explanation. "You're lucky Leon knows where you hide. He won't tell me how in the world he found this place, and insisted that we stay here until you woke up. I told him that the constant staring at you and pacing wasn't necessary, that I was quite sure I had got it right the first time around, but you can see he didn't hear a word I said."

            I smiled. In fact I was quite close to laughing. The tone of Iason's voice, vaguely mocking, and mocking himself at that, was quite humorous. 

            "That's what I was looking for," he said, grinning back. "How'd you come to be in a fistfight with Bran and Ian, anyway? Winning, I grant you that, but still."

            "Conservato," Leon and I said at the same time. 

            "He didn't like it that Marina won," Leon added. "In theory, anyway."

            "He didn't like it when his own side turned against him, either," I added. It seemed to surprise the boys that I was almost completely unfazed by the night's events. So what, I thought, I'd been in fistfights before. Never two-on-one, but I'd fought. With Leon, at times. Of course, Mom and Dad never found out. Back then, they'd probably have locked me in my bedroom to 'keep me safe.'

            "Firstly, Marina didn't win. She obliterated. And secondly, that line about illiteracy was classic. Thirdly, it was great fun to have King Hydros call that ignoramus a fool in front of everyone, wasn't it?" Iason's eyes were dancing, and he was smiling fit to light up the cave without Psynergy. I smiled back, and tiredly nodded my agreement.

            "Are you sure you feel alright?" Leon asked. I raised an eyebrow at him, a trait of Dad's that Leon always groaned at. It was jealousy—Leon's eyebrows did not feel content without rising together. 

            "No worse that I did after the…after the Senate meeting," I said, remembering my uncharacteristic nervousness.

            "You felt bad in there?"

            "We all did, Leon," Iason muttered venomously. "That man makes me sick. You look at our people and you wonder if they remember he's not Lemurian."

            "_Iason_!" Leon hissed.

            "She knows already. You can tell it came as no surprise to her." Iason was referring to me. I had suspected since I was a child that Conservato was not Lemurian. Iason was right—I was not surprised. "It'll probably surprise her more to find out that Conservato actually made one good decision in his life."

            "He did?" I asked, quite clearly surprised.

            "Oh yes," Leon said darkly. "It was his idea to open trade to farther-away places, like Izumo, Apojii and Hesperia." 

            "If it was his idea to do that, then now, why would he want to close us off again?" I asked.

            "If that isn't the question of the century," Iason said with a vague smile.

            "What time is it?" I asked. "Mom and Dad are going to murder us when we get home."

            "No, it's just past midnight," Leon said, glancing at the sky. "If we hurry, and go quietly, they might never know we didn't get home."

            "You and Iason were supposed to meet Dad back with Aaron and King Hydros," I said, looking Leon in the eye. Something was out of place there. Sadness? Worry? Perhaps, though I shuddered at the thought, fear? Of whom, then? Our parents? Conservato? Bran and Ian, whoever they were? Afraid that if I fought something bad might happen to me?

            "It didn't, though," Iason said, and I realized that I had spoken that last thought aloud. "Well…nothing permanent. Come on, it's cold tonight, and even if I'm supposed to be a Mercury Adept, I'm not one for freezing to death." Slowly, half-asleep still, I stood.

            _Leon and I got home and in bed without a problem. It was only today that everything caught up with me. I told everyone that I just didn't feel like getting out of bed today, and to everyone's apparent satisfaction and my shock they said that was understandable, after last night. I knew Dad meant the Senate, and Leon meant that and the fight…but what in the world could my mother be referring to? Unless Dad had told her about my exploits last night. That must be it. I knew he was proud._

************************************************************************

Vil: Alright, that was one heck of a chapter. Did most of it in a night. Hope you had fun with it. Chapter six is indeed finished, so…maybe a week from today, you'll get it. Jupiter Girl, your giveaway detail is coming! Credit to my muse for correcting my grammar (a mistake which was total irony, and would have put Marina in a bad situation) and providing the basis for Iason's sense of humor. And for giving me the phrase "running circles around Conservato" when I couldn't remember that phrase to save my life. 

Anyone want some real irony? Go look up his name ;) . 


	6. Marina

My Wish for You

A/N: Ah, and here we are. The fateful chapter (the sixth chapter of a lot of things tends to be my favorite, or at least one of the most crucial. Chapter six of Shining in the Darkness (great fic—not mine) was superb, and of course chapter six of SS was quite important to the storyline…not to mention quite long…). Anyway, in this chapter…we find out exactly what's going on with Marina. I promise you that you will much enjoy finding out. Especially you guessers. 

**Alex:** Oh good. Just make Triad sit until he drags himself over here. Somehow I really think he'd like this story. 'Specially that last chapter. And you're right. No one should be linking Trials by Water with this story. I gave Alex the idea of calling Picard's uncle Leon firstly because it was in my mind from inventing this story here, and secondly because it was what Picard was supposed to be called before they gave him…_that other name_. *Shudders*. I'm not sure being called unpredictable is quite a compliment, but I'll pretend it is! 

**Kadevi chan:** Unfortunately, all of your questions about Conservato are things that, as far as I know, Marina never knew. But they'll be revealed in the final chapter, I promise. 

**Jupiter Girl:** Read on, child! It's in this chapter, what you're looking for!!

**Shiro Amayagi:** Argh. She ruined no surprise. So her story says Leon is Picard's uncle. Big deal. *grins*

**Akiko:** Hey Akiko! After this, you can review on your own and tie _Garet_ up! That you can!

**Midnight C:** Yes, but if I said I was as evil as you I'd get death threats and random pizza delivery. And I really don't need any more pizza. Do you know what the Mercury Djinn are _like_ when they eat pizza?! 

On with it, the lot of you! I have reading to get back to. *Digs out Order of the Phoenix*

Chapter Six: Marina

30 September, Year 4, Mercury Century

            _I will never believe it. I can't. It's impossible. These things just don't happen in Lemuria. I've been brought up to believe that. Everyone says that. And no one else ever…it's just too hard to believe. That my parents would let me go seventeen years without a word about it…_

            _No wonder my mother got that look so many years ago, when I was only seven and reminded her about always telling the truth. No wonder I received looks of pity at even such a young age. No wonder I was warned away from any fun activity whatsoever. It's no small wonder that now, every time my heart races, I am afraid. And I know I am afraid._

            _Compared to this, it seems like that incident with Conservato two years and some ago was nothing. I held my own in that fight, and I have had to do so again, three times, against the same two. Last time, I won. But this…and on my birthday, too. My seventeenth._

            _That's right. Today I am an adult, here in Lemuria. Today, my whole life has changed._

            _Twice_.

            It was not a rainy morning. The clouds from the previous day had vanished. When I awoke, tired from yesterday's activity still, the sun was literally glowing on the bright autumn leaves, and I felt happy.

            _My seventeenth birthday_, I thought. Today was the great day. That day when my opinion finally would be truly listened to, believed in, counted upon. Yes, I was looking forward to becoming an adult on this island.

            This island, where still we were not isolated; every day I gave thanks for that. Conservato could rage all he pleased. King Hydros was unmoving in his decision to allow trade to remain open. An incident like that with Aaron has yet to happen again.

            I was looking forward to finally being able to learn Psynergy for real, not the little things I could do only in private. Though now, some of them weren't so little. When a lot of continuous physical activity tired me out, I decided to practice Psynergy more. I had become quite good for someone never taught, though not nearly as good as my brother, now twenty-four, or either of my parents.

            I was also looking forward to the usual birthday events. Gifts, for one. And a celebration. Quickly braiding my hair, an easy way of keeping it out of my face, I joined my parents and Leon for breakfast.

            "Fishing today? It'll be your last for the year," Mom said, and I nodded, but Dad and Leon shook their heads.

            "Not today," Dad said, a mischievous grin spreading on his face. "Today, my daughter is seventeen, and we are going to celebrate."

            "We've celebrated at seven, eight, nine, ten and on, all the way up to now," Leon said casually. "I see no reason why she'd suspect different. Her only concern is making John and Luke jealous." It was true. John was born in October, and Luke in November. It annoyed them, and had done so for years, that I was older and would turn seventeen first.

            "One of them, yes," I agreed, smiling. By far, this was the perfect birthday. I went outside, already enjoying myself, and caught a golden leaf as it spun through the air.

            _"It's the color of your eyes, Marina,"_ I could hear Leon saying in my mind. Had that been ten years ago, really? Back when my activities seemed so restricted…back when my parents were overprotective. They were less so now, at least a little. I can't say they enjoyed the idea of my running off every so often to go be 'somewhere'—I never told them about my little cave. And they would never know about yesterday. Yesterday, I took a rowboat, with Leon and Iason for company, and we found a flooded city that mirrored our own. 

            Leon knew a special Psynergy, called Parch. He held out his hand and tried to use it on the water, but it fizzled out. As though saying, "There is no hope." It was rather depressing. _Maybe_, I thought, _when I learn Parch, I will go back and try it_.

            Everyone wished me a happy birthday and congratulations as I made my way down to the beach. I understood that a birthday was a time to be spent celebrating with family, but right then I just wanted time alone.

            I walked along the beach for a while, lost in thought, picking up the occasional shell or pretty stone. I kept them in a pocket. That was another thing my parents didn't exactly enjoy—seventeen, and I still preferred a tunic and pants instead of a dress. It was easier to run this way, and climb. Plus, this gave me pockets.

            I could see to what seemed like the edge of the world on this eastern beach. Far off, maybe that was Apojii. Or Izumo. Or some undiscovered island. I vowed to take a ship of my own out there one day, just to see where exactly that was. 

            Then I went to my cave. So many things were there, not the least of which being a ragged blanket, a pressed golden leaf, a scarf once belonging to a three-foot-high snowperson, and the case that held my father's flute. I took it out, sat at the mouth of the cave, closed my eyes and began to play one of the many songs I knew. This one was a ceremonial song of celebration. I had heard it years before, at Leon's birthday. 

            I had come to the part, my favorite, where several lower notes jump to a myriad of high ones, when I felt more than heard someone sit down next to me. I stopped, turning to look.

            "Hello, Iason," I said, smiling.

            "Hey Marina. It's a beautiful day, isn't it?" he asked, smiling in the direction of the ocean. I looked at him slyly.

            "Come on. You never come here looking for me unless you have a new joke to tell or a definite point to make. Spill it. And no more jokes about Mars Adepts. They get old, even my favorite one."

            "Good thing that's not why I was here," he said, grinning again. From his pocket, he pulled a small wrapped box. "I heard it was your birthday and decided I had to go one better than a joke, this time," he added, handing the box to me. Carefully, I pulled off the paper and opened it.

            A beautiful silver sea star on a chain of the same sat inside the box. I pulled it out, amazed at the way it caught the light and bounced it off at odd angles. In the very center was a tiny crystal.

            "Oh. Oh Iason…it's so beautiful!" I said, grinning at him. He grinned back. "It's also a reminder of the starfish incident yesterday, I know. Thank you." 

            "Well, I figured if I didn't get you a present after you got that accursed thing off of my head than I was sorely underpaying you," he said, a troublemaking light in his eyes. They were odd eyes, I realized yet again. Not gold at all, but a sort of silvery-purple. "Really, your birthday being in the way was just convenient."

            _I put it on, liking the way it shone against my light blue tunic. Iason did tell me several jokes, and I remember laughing at every one, stupid though some of them were. It seemed as though all the day was going right, for once._

            _When I got back, it was mid-afternoon and I had not had lunch. I gladly shared a picnic with Leon, Iason, John, Luke and Alicia. It seemed as though no trouble could fall on such a beautiful day. Not even when Conservato passed us as we headed for my house and he glared at me did I lose my excitement. He could go jump from the highest cliff in Lemuria for all I cared. Or, as was my favorite saying, he could take several long walks off of several short piers into a dried-up, deep lakebed._

            Finally, it was twilight. Dressed, unwillingly, in something that made me resemble a window with too many curtains that billowed far too much in a nonexistent wind, I walked up to the spring. King Hydros was there again. And again I did not register his words, only that they instilled in me a confidence in myself and a respect for him that I had previously not known. 

            I was too focused on the odd feeling I was having. It seemed like every emotion I knew was trying to take hold and be expressed at once. My heart was pounding, from excitement, nervousness, happiness, sadness, and apprehension all at once, and I felt as though I could lift off the ground. 

            I drank from the spring. Finally, I knew what that meant. To all intents and purposes, I would not age. Technically, I would, about a year for every ten I lived, but it wouldn't seem so. I would be allowed to learn Psynergy. I was an adult.

            There was music, of course. Some dancing, even, though I myself did not join them. After the emotional rush that had felt like high winds on high seas magnified by ten, I couldn't seem to find the energy to dance. I did sing some, when a song came along that there were words for.

            I had thought no trouble could come that day. I was wrong. They were there, the boys, men now, Bran and Ian. They stood at the fringe of the trees, watching me. Quietly, making sure no one noticed me, I stood and walked their way. I meant only to make friendly conversation, perhaps to apologize for their most recent defeat at my hands.

            Instead what I got was a hard punch. I was not an inept fighter, however, and Ian never saw my kick coming. Bran, however, was faster, and lashed out with a staff, striking the center of my chest with its blunt end.

            I fell back, stumbling, barely keeping my balance. I lost it in the end, and fell to the ground. I waited for them to continue, but they did not. I later realized that this was because I had slipped into the void that was unconsciousness.

            I realized this when I woke in my own bed. Leon was there, and my parents. I sat up quickly, shaking off momentary dizziness, ignoring it as it persisted, and staring in confusion. Had they thought I had just fallen asleep, tired from a long celebration? No. If they had, they would not be here.

            "Marina! You frightened us!" Mom said, and indeed she looked quite pale. Dad, on the other hand, appeared to be fighting the desire to be ill. Leon only looked pensive. I sighed in relief. He did not look worried, and therefore I had no cause to be. Of everyone I had ever known, only he had told me the truth my entire life. His expression would have told me, in no uncertain terms, whether or not to worry.

            "I thought you were old enough to know not to go looking for a fight with those two," Dad said sharply. I sighed again, resignedly.

            "I was not looking for a fight," I said, rising and realizing I no longer wore that ridiculous outfit, but my ordinary nightclothes. Dad looked like he was about to rise as well, but something stopped him. It was Leon, holding Dad's wrist and shaking his head. "I truly meant to only invite them to join us, and to apologize for beating them so soundly the last time our paths conflicted. And if you do not believe me, I cannot fault you, because it sounds unbelievable even to me, and I know I'm right."

            "We believe you," Mom said, for some reason unable to resist springing up and embracing me. "By Mercury, we believe you."

            "Well, thank you for that, but really, there's no need to be so…passionate about it," I said, confused. She was acting like I'd come back from the dead. I ventured a guess. "I could not have been that badly hurt, Mom. They wouldn't dare beat me up in front of everyone."

            "Oh, Marina," Dad said, and I thought I could see a tear fall from his eye. What was he crying for?

            Instinctively, I looked at Leon. Grim-faced, he rose and put an arm around me. 

            "It really hit me hard ten years ago, when you lectured Mom about always telling the truth," he said. "It hurt me, when I worried for you and you accused me of being like them, of pity. It angered me to find out that my own parents pitied you, when they had no cause, though I knew there was a cause, but certainly not one for pity. It warmed my heart to see you play just like anyone else, so innocent of what was to come, and to watch you jump from trees and sled down hills. It made me proud to see you stand up to one of the most threatening presences in Lemuria and tell him in no uncertain terms that he was wrong and you could prove it. It frightened me to see him send cronies after you and have them attack you. And now, I can say it saddens me to have this burden laid upon you on what should be your best birthday ever."

            "What burden, Leon?" I asked. I had never heard him talk thus, and it was quite a speech for him. He had just recounted the majority of my life, and made it evident that there was either something wrong with me or my future, or both.

            "Mom and Dad insisted I keep it from you, Marina," he said, his angry voice betraying him. I realized then that at heart he was still seventeen, still a boy. It had not been ten years since his adulthood. But in wisdom he was far beyond twenty-four. "I didn't like it. I felt you should know, and learn to live anyway. So I want them to tell you."

            "Mom. Dad," I said, my voice icy, so cold it probably could have frosted glass. "What is it that you have never told me?"

            "You know that there is no illness, no disease in Lemuria," Mom said, her voice trembling. "That is what everyone believed. Until you were born."

            "I have not been sick a day in my life," I protested. "Beaten up, surely, and tired, but never sick."

            "No, not sick like there is in the world outside," Dad agreed. "But sick in your own way. You were born with a weak heart, Marina. Indeed, we are lucky you were born at all. For this reason, we felt the need to protect you from everything and anything that could cause you harm."

            "They didn't reckon with me," Leon said, a shadow smile on his face for a moment.

            "True," Mom said, and I could tell now that she was crying. "Leon understood truth better than most children. He understood a great deal more than any seven-year-old I had ever known in my long life. He made a promise to always tell you the truth, because out of everyone he knew, you deserved it most. He stuck to that promise his entire life. Not once has he held anything back from you, aside from this."

            "Why didn't you tell me?" I asked. The heart that was supposedly such a burden felt as though it had stopped.

            "We wanted you to grow up without knowing you were different. Without thinking yourself weak, or incapable, or somehow wrong," Dad said consolingly. I was in no mood for being consoled, however.

            "Also to keep me from blaming the two of you," I said, and I could tell I hit the mark dead-on. Some part of me knew that this was not selfishness. It was, had been and would continue to be an act of love. 

            "Please try to understand, Marina," Mom said, her eyes on the floor.

            "I do," I said, tears springing to my own eyes. "It has not bothered me ever before, and it never will, I promise. I'll lead a normal life, like I always have. I was careful, anyway."

            "You realize that this will mean—" Dad began, but Leon—how I loved my brother then—cut him off with a raised hand.

            "No, Dad. She _will_ learn Psynergy. That is taxing only on the mind and the focus, and she is already quite adept at it," he added, smiling at his own little joke.

            _I told them to leave. Before he left, I thanked Leon, though. It feels as though my life has been taken from me and handed back with a large hole in it. It feels…torn. Broken, perhaps. And this is something I can't fix._

            _No wonder, I see now, that Conservato despises me. He knows, and he thinks I should not be able, or even allowed, perhaps, to survive, much less stand up to him and claim victory._

            _I do not know if I can lead a normal life, now, knowing this. I just do not know._

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Vil: I did this in the span of two hours. Hope you liked it. 

So now you know. I've been writing about Picard's mother and uncle…and their past. Congratulations go to Jupiter Girl and heatherthegreatone for guessing correctly. Jupiter Girl, you sure you aren't an adept? You got even the specifics right!

However, though now you may know who she is…you've yet to find out just what her future has in store. You see…well, you will see, at least. 

And even though I know that yes, my Leon and Alex's Leon are the same person, there was no reason for anyone to _assume_ that. You guys know what assuming makes out of you and me, right? Good.  

There is a slight bit of a problem. I don't know where to take the story from here. I mean, I haves several ways which I might go, but I'd like to know what you guys think. Plus, this means that if you have something, you'll review!!! 


	7. Psynergetic Row

My Wish for You

A/N: So…ready for another chapter yet? Well, you'd better be, because you're getting one whether you want it or not! Admittedly, I don't know myself where this chapter will go…guess I'll have to trust it to luck. Some of you will notice quite a large time-skip here (20 years!), but you have to remember that by now she's just about nineteen, age-wise. Oh, and apply the usual disclaimer babble to this chapter too.

**Midnight C:** Oh, I bet you wonder. I can give you a clue—you've met him, or at least heard his name, by the end of this chapter. That's not saying much, as it could be anyone…

**Akiko:** Don't worry, Garet'll tire out real fast. You'll catch him easy!

**Mare Serenitatis:** *rescues Picard* Gah! He's _mine_! *leaves exact-copy Picard in place* I dunno how you got hold of him…and so you caught me on that detail. But times change, of course…perhaps by then, adulthood age has changed as well? Suppose you'll just have to wait…

Aww, that's it? Only four? Sheesh…either a lot of vacation (such as you, Alex) going on, or people are just walking out on me…on with it, then.

Chapter Seven: Psynergetic Row (that'd be row like a raucous fight, not row like 'your boat.')

1 May, Year 24, Mercury Century

            _It's been just under 20 years, I realized this morning. That long since my 'little secret' was revealed. Not much really changed, now that I think about it._

            _Now there's something I do a lot these days. I am constantly thinking. Half the time, I realize someone has been talking to me for well over five minutes and I've not heard a word because I was lost in thought, only I can't remember what I was thinking about. _

            _And time not spent thinking is time spent learning Psynergy for real. I can't say that Mom and Dad are any more up to the idea, especially not after the Frost fiasco yesterday, but you would think that by now they'd realize I was fine on my own._

            _I'm not nearly as uninformed as they seem to think. Though after today I doubt either Luke or John will stop talking about what I did…_

            I was up early, as usual. The earlier I awoke, the sooner I could get out of the house. Not that I didn't like this house still…just that its inhabitants could really grate on my nerves if I stayed around them for lengthy periods.

            On early winter mornings I'm up soon enough to watch the sun rise. Towards summer, like now, the sun almost always beats me to it, so I'll walk down to the little cave and just pace the beach for a while, before heading to meet John, Luke, Alicia and Rebecca to practice Psynergy. 

            Today was different, though. I had time to spare, so I started to walk. I went in the completely opposite direction that I would normally have gone, and found myself standing atop a cliff that fell to pounding waves below.

            And I knew almost right away that this was wrong. I knew this cliff. It was still as steep as ever, but about thirty years ago it had fallen to a long stretch of beach. I wondered then if maybe it was high tide, but in the past even the highest tides had left ample pebbly sand to run on. 

            My hand reached automatically for the sea star pendant about my neck. I wore it always, now, ever since that day. It reminded me of life before I had found out that I was, in more than one way, weak.

            I mentioned the cliffs to Luke and Rebecca, the only ones there when I arrived. Luke shrugged it off as a powerful storm out at sea somewhere, but Rebecca appeared thoughtful. I was about to ask her what she thought, but John and Alicia were coming down the embankment and I had to tell them all over again.

            "Storm," John agreed. Alicia said she didn't know what it was but wondered why I got so paranoid about things that weren't very important and that I should focus on improving my Psynergy. 

            "I don't need any but the simplest Psynergies anyway," I argued. She didn't know that yesterday's Frost incident had actually been Glacier gone wrong. "Nothing ever happens in Lemuria that requires things like Ice Missile or Freeze Prism."

            "You never know, though," she said. "You might find yourself cornered by some awful bullies," she added with a sneer, "and, well, someone like you, where would you be without Psynergy?"

            "Someone like me?" I asked in furious confusion.

            "Yes, you know…" Alicia trailed off, and appeared to be looking for the right insulting word. At last her mind seemed to have lit on one, for she grinned maliciously. "Defective."

            The word stung like a slap. Only Conservato's lackeys had ever had the nerve to insult me to my face, and after having dealt with them for about ten years I decided enough was enough and resorted to Psynergy, and since then it'd been insults from just within hearing distance. 

            This was different. Here was someone who had been something resembling a friend when we were kids, and now, probably because she was a year older and felt she had some kind of authority, she was acting like I was scum.

            I remember being told once that, though it took quite a lot to actually make me angry, once I was there was no controlling me. I was beginning to find that this was quite true. I proved it true when, against all better judgment, I pointed at Alicia and half-growled, "Froth Sphere."

            But she was ready. Her own Frost created an ice wall in front of her, blocking my Psynergy.

            "And I thought she said she didn't need higher-level attacks," Luke muttered. 

            There was a short time during which I called on every Mercury Psynergy I knew, aside from Glacier. Glacier was known to go everywhere at once, and I kept enough control to remember that I didn't want to freeze John, Luke or Rebecca. At the same time, Alicia threw her repertoire at me. The others made an attempt to intervene but it was obvious they would get nowhere.

            "Drench!" said Alicia, and I found myself being pelted with water. We were near a river, and it was obvious where she was getting the water from. Regardless, I would not let myself step back.

            "Glacier!" I cried, hoping that the others had the sense to duck. I didn't want to find out—turning, I broke into a run.

            _Stupid Marina_, I chided myself. _You're running away after a Psynergy fight. If anyone finds out they'll have your head. Plus, there's not a place you can go to hide—at least two people know about that cave, maybe more now that Maya's in the picture_.

            Maya, of course, was Leon's wife. I'd heard last night that she was expecting a child, due towards the end of the autumn. 

            Still, I ran for the cave, it being the only safe place I had to go. Distantly I noticed the water being closer on this side of the island, too, but I didn't pause to think about it. I sat just inside the mouth of the cave, out of breath and rather dizzy.

            "And here I thought you were intelligent," said a voice behind me. I jumped up and whirled. A man stepped out from the shadows, his long, tied-back hair glinting a deep red and his eyes vibrant reddish-brown. 

            "I am," I replied. It was Julian, Aaron's son. He was twenty-one and, as Aaron was far too old by now, had taken his father's place working on our boat.

            It came to me how much I missed going out on the boat. I was still allowed, of course, I just never had the time, between Psynergy, sleep, and daily mundane things. 

            "I saw that, you know," he added, grinning. 

            "How could you have seen it and beaten me here, then?" I asked hotly. "You're a Mars Adept, not Jupiter like your father—you can't run fast enough to beat me here."

            "True, Darien is the Jupiter Adept," he agreed, naming his twin brother. "And I know I'm not even supposed to know that you hide here, but really, there's a faster way back than the way you took, and I've seen you here early in the morning just before I head to the docks. You walk back and forth along the beach as silently as a shadow."

            "Faster way back? What, jumping down the cliff faces?"

            "Well…yeah," Julian said sheepishly. I stared at him. "What? I'm serious. Just because Jupiter's agility is inherent doesn't mean that it doesn't exist elsewhere too, you know. Though my brother keeps insisting that, in some future he believes he can see, there's going to be a taller, stupider version of myself that will look like a big galumphing fool." 

            I laughed at this description. On a normal day, Julian himself was a big galumphing fool, and Darien, who often joined his brother on the boat as protection against and forewarning of bad weather, was never averse to making up some story to influence the idea.

            "Of course, anyone who follows _his_ looks will be short, scrawny and girlish," Julian added quickly. 

            "You two argue more than even Rebecca and Iason, and they're at each other's throats at least twice a day," I pointed out, though I was smiling.

            "Yes, but you don't see them pulling any Psynergy tricks," Julian said gravely.

            "Oh, it wasn't a big deal. It gave me some practice, at any rate."

            "Yes, but…I have heard about _him_."

            "Him whom?"

            "You know. _Him_. Lord…thingy."

            "Lord Thingy?" I asked, incredulous. Lemuria didn't have an abundance of Lords, and of the few, not one of them was named 'thingy,' to my knowledge. 

            "The one you took on in order to…so that my father could…could stay…keep working here…" Julian seemed to have a lot of trouble putting a sentence together on this one.

            "Conservato?" I asked, and Julian nodded solemnly. I rolled my eyes. "He's a jerk."

            "There aren't many here who would dare speak that way," Julian said quietly. He gave me a wily grin. "I admire you for it."

            _It seemed he had been about to say more, but by this time Luke and Rebecca had found me. They said that John was back at the river, sorting things out with Alicia's parents and my own. Luke added that, if Conservato ever got his way, I'd be plenty good at making sure it didn't happen twice._

            _Julian found me later, though. I had had to apologize to Alicia's parents, not to mention receive the punishment of extra work from my own—apparently a weak heart isn't bad enough to avoid chores. So I was washing the outsides of the windowpanes when he came by_.

            "Marina." I turned around.

            "Hello again, Julian," I said, quickly getting back to my task so he could not watch as my face flushed red. _Early summer heat_, I attempted to convince myself.

            "Can't you just wash them off with a Deluge, or a Froth Sphere?" he asked jokingly. I laughed. 

            "If only. I used up all the Psynergy I've got earlier. But she deserved it," I said, suddenly angry again. "She called me 'defective,' a detail that's been neglected in any explanation I've heard given." 

            "What basis does she have to call you that?" Julian snapped, sounding very angry himself.

            "You know," I said darkly. This wasn't something I liked to even think about, let alone talk about.

            "No, actually, I don't. I heard that other girl…Rebecca's her name? Yes, her…talking about it with a tall blue-haired boy, and I asked her the same question, and neither of them would tell me. They just mumbled something about jealousy."

            I whistled. So Julian really didn't know. No wonder he hadn't been on my case back at the cave—even Leon or Iason, the two I trusted most to treat me like everyone else, would have voiced concerns at that point. 

            "Well, Julian," I said, turning back around and speaking in a voice that wasn't far above a whisper.

            "Yes?"

            And I told him. I told him most of the story, about the night of my seventeenth birthday. And he stood there, and listened calmly, and at the end of it all did not look pitying, or sad, or malicious. He looked, in fact, merely curious. It was refreshing, almost.

            "Being from…Hesperia?" I queried, and he nodded. "Right. Being from Hesperia, doubtless you live in a world where such things as sickness and disease are, if not commonplace, at least less than rare." He nodded. "Here, there is none of that. So I am different. Weak."

            "No, that's a lie," he said quietly. He was sitting on one of the flat stones behind our house, looking at the ground ponderingly. 

            "Is it?"

            "Yeah. You're not weak at all. You're strong. You think I didn't see the way you didn't even insult that girl back, you just took whatever course seemed right? And you must endure so many whispers and furtive looks a day, and as far as I know you've not lost your temper once. And that night, you didn't accuse your parents of being stupid for keeping it from you, or blame them for your circumstances; you told them that you understood and that you'd get on with life as it should be."

            I stared at him. No one outside of Leon had ever spoken to me like this before. I would have to tell some of the more…mistrusting Lemurians that no, outsiders were not barbaric idiots. Julian stood, and I found myself looking up into two piercing, clear red-brown eyes. 

            "That's not the mark of a weak person, Marina," he said, and I found myself moving steadily closer to him. "No, indeed, it is the mark of a strong one. A lesser person would have thrown a fit, or perhaps drowned herself in sadness. Not you. You're happy, at times carefree, and you will stand up for yourself."

            His eyes and mine had not left each other. Gently, he placed one hand on my shoulder and smiled.

            "Don't tell lies," I whispered, though we both knew I didn't mean it.

            "Never to you," he promised. And we drew closer.

            _To put down here what happened then would be to trust that no one will ever find this, and as I cannot do that, then I shall not go into detail. But I believe I know why Leon and Maya are always looking at each other as though there is no world but theirs._

            _I believe I am in love with Julian._

            _I'm not fool enough to tell anyone. I have a hard enough time convincing them that I'm thirty-six. I look the same as I did at fifteen. And I was always a bit short. Well, technically, and at least…maturity-wise, I suppose…I'm only nineteen. Julian was surprised, though, when he found out he'd been born fifteen years after I was. _

            _Perhaps it is all beginning to turn around. Life can go on as it should, and as it will. _

************************************************************************

Vil: End of chapter seven. Well…I didn't know where the chapter would go, but I never expected it to go that way. Hm. Well then, leave your review…I _do_ know how the next chapter will go, it will be quite interesting…a very small time-jump, even…anyone else surprised that Leon was married? I know I was, and I wrote the thing…anyway, REVIEW!

Oh, and some of you also know that "Lord Thingy," is not my own invention. I got it from another book. Just so it wasn't plagiarization. ;) 


	8. Sometimes I Wonder

My Wish for You

A/N: Um…well…here I am again! Sick of this story yet, guys? I really hope not…really. Let's see now…I wonder what time of year it is? Oh…fall? Wait, wasn't something important supposed to happen in fall in this story? Oh, yes, that's right…

**Jupiter Girl:** Finally! You're here! I never imagined it either…these things, like Julian, just are unplanned sometimes…

**Alayea:** No, the game doesn't reveal Picard's uncle's name. Leon just fits him well.

**Shiro Amayagi:** You might as well tell who 'he' is, because I don't know myself.

**Mid, 'Lena, Akiko:** Hard to respond to so many reviews, but I promise I don't mind a bit. References to Garet and Ivan? Who, me? *innocent whistling*

And credit to Feonyx for coming up with (and giving me permission to use) the Mars Adept Joke.

(Note to a person who _will_ figure out who they are upon reading the chapter: It wasn't meant to be revenge. It wasn't even meant to _happen_. But at least I had good material!)

Chapter Eight: Sometimes I Wonder

22 November, Year 24, Mercury Century

         _Sorry I haven't written in a few days. Oh, look at me, apologizing to a book! Anyway, three days ago, Maya had her baby, a little boy. She and Leon named him Robin, after the bird I suppose. He's so…so little. Helpless. _

         _I've heard Julian say that Lemuria never really seemed to be 'a party sort of place,' and I hope we proved him wrong today. There was a celebration, albeit small, though quite a few people were there; we have a large family._

         "So nice to see you again!" Leon said for what felt like the thousandth time. I nodded my agreement, though I had never seen this woman before in my life, which was quite a long time when you thought about it. 

         I could not count how many of these relatives had called me 'Maria' or had apologized to me. I couldn't even guess at why they were apologizing. I knew, of course, what they were sorry for, but I still don't know why they thought _they_ had to be sorry.

         The last thing I want is pity. Especially from people I don't even know.

         Iason was there, though he hadn't brought Rebecca. He was Leon's best friend, of course—he must have been ecstatic. Several people were standing near him, laughing at whatever joke he'd just told. I joined them, needing to laugh. Iason saw me and his grin widened. 

         "Marina, listen to this one!" he said, laughing to himself. I smiled back and waited. "How many Mars Adepts does it take to light a lantern?"

         Instantly Julian came to my mind. I pushed those thoughts away, however. Doubtless the joke would point out the stupidity of a Mars Adept, or their inferiority to a Mercury Adept, and I didn't want to involve Julian in such a joke.

         "Two," I ventured. Iason shook his head.

         "Four," he corrected. "One to light it, one to pick up the pieces, one to get a new lantern, and one to fetch a Mercury Adept to do it properly."

         I laughed. It was a funny joke. In fact, I began to form a twist on that joke in my mind at that very moment, though I said nothing about it.

         I eventually could not stand a house full of blabbering, noisy guests—even when some of them were my closest friends—and I quietly went upstairs. It was nice to sit on my bed and have the celebration below as only a background noise. Almost peaceful.

         A white bird had perched itself on my windowsill, and it was chirping in high, musical tones. I smiled. There was something to love about being outside—animals, plants and stones felt pity for no one and nothing. They went about their lives (excluding stones, of course) and occasionally grew to love humans. 

         There was a soft knock at the door. "Come in," I said, annoyed that my moments of peace had been interrupted. The door opened and Maya, Leon's wife, stepped inside my room, smiling down at the child she carried in her arms. "Oh. Hello," was the best I could offer.

         "I was wondering if I might bring Robin in here to sleep where it's quiet and there aren't so many people," she said, giving me a small smile to go with the pleading tone in her voice. 

         "Of course," I said. I did not want to give up my momentary haven for this child, but he was my nephew—Leon's son—after all, and if I did not rejoin the crowd soon I would be missed, I suspected. 

         "Would you like to hold him?" she asked.

         "Yes," I said, smiling back. Maya placed him in my arms and stepped back, and I looked down at Leon's child. He had a Lemurian's blue hair, and what little he had was in tight curls, much like his mother's own. As I looked at him, fighting off the desire to never let him go again, he opened his eyes. I gasped—they were the image of my brother's, golden with a sort of overlying green. He closed them again, and I knew he was asleep.

         "Shall I tell them you're here with the baby?" Maya asked in a whisper, and I looked up at her. 

         "You'd let me stay here and hold him?" I asked, quite shocked. I had never thought Maya would trust someone, especially me, with her son so soon after his birth. Maya, however, nodded slowly. 

         "You think I do not trust you?" she asked, as though reading my mind. 

         "Indeed."

         "Why?"

         "You would be surprised," was all I would offer. Maya shook her head, then quietly left and closed the door, leaving me staring down at my own nephew. I am barely nineteen as far as aging goes, but I am thirty-seven in years, and as Julian has said before, in most other places I would not only be well into adulthood, I would probably have my own children. 

         _I could not take my eyes from the sleeping Robin. The idea that someday, I might have a child of my own, while hard to fathom right now, keeps invading any other thoughts I might have. As I have said, Robin looked so very helpless, so small and weak. So dependant on others to…to survive. _

         _I wonder if Leon, or myself, or any of my friends looked this way as children. I wonder if this is how Maya must feel. I cannot begin to wonder what my own mother feels now, now that Leon and I are grown, and he has a family. _

         _The celebration ended early in the afternoon, leaving me free for the rest of the afternoon and evening. Well, alright…free is a relative term…_

         "Where are you going, young lady?" my father asked as I hurried out the door.

         "Thirty-seven is hardly young," I shot back without turning around. What I had to do tonight was far more important than this. Arguing with my father would only waste what little time I had.

         "Compared to one hundred seventy-four, you are still young," he said. I stopped. This was the first I had ever heard my father's age. I did some quick math in my mind; he was one hundred thirty-seven when I was born, twenty-nine in terms of aging. 

         "Indeed I am," I supplied, smiling despite myself and continuing to walk away. 

         "You have yet to tell me where you are going," he said in a cold voice. I stopped again, holding back a sigh.

         "Is it alright if I go to visit Rebecca tonight?" I asked, using the most viable excuse I could come up with. Rebecca had, after all, not been at the celebration that morning. 

         "Be back by eleven," was all he said, which of course meant yes. So I ran. It was nine, after all—two hours wasn't much time, and I wanted to make the most of the time I had. Hurrying as fast as I could (I have figured out by now that 'fast' isn't always accomplishable), I arrived at the cave by the shore and was caught by two strong arms.

         "Good evening," Julian said quietly, speaking into my hair as we embraced. "It's wonderful to see you again." 

         "You saw me just yesterday night," I reminded him. "But likewise." We have that same conversation every night, and every night our hearts are in it. "Now, why weren't you at the party today?"

         "I felt it wasn't my place. I'm not family. I'm not even _Lemurian_." Julian looked down at the sand. 

         "You and your brother and father might as well be family, to us," I said, sitting in the sand and staring out at the sunset, reflecting orange, crimson, scarlet and gold in the water. "You should have come."

         Julian sat beside me and put his arm around my shoulders. "Your people have a…a _thing_ about outsiders. They don't like them much."

         "It isn't their fault. Conservato makes outsiders out to be threats, evil…the worst of it is, the rest of the continent believes him. They _respect_ him. I could never do that. He's a vile man."

         "Let's not talk about him," Julian said consolingly. "It will ruin our night."

         "Nothing could ruin a night I spend with you. You make every day end perfect."

         We spent several moments in companionable silence. My mind was now unmoving from the thoughts about exactly what my people had against outsiders. A concern came to mind and I gasped aloud at the thought. Julian looked at me curiously.

         "This…this breaks the rules," I whispered, looking down at the sand. "For me to love you…it would be looked upon as…as bad. As wrong, perhaps. By the Lemurians."

         "Does it matter so much?" he asked, sounding genuinely concerned. 

         "It only matters because I think there are…certain people on this island who will be vehemently against our…loving one another. You understood when I asked that it be secret," I added, remembering that day well.

         "I did tell Darien," he remarked.

         "Darien can be trusted."

         We were silent again, this time for longer. It hurt, to have to tell Julian that everyone here would oppose our being in love, to tell him that he was a secret because I could trust no one with this, not even Leon…to make it seem like what the Lemurians thought mattered more than what I thought, what I felt. It felt selfish. 

         "Sometimes I wonder if it's even real," he said softly, so soft I could barely hear him. "You, your face, your voice…the idea that you love me…even the idea that I love you…"

         "What did that mean?" I asked, more harshly than I intended to. He looked up and met my eyes, and I saw that his gaze was serious, and also sad, as though the weight of the world had settled in his mind and he knew it, and would not complain. 

         "I get scared, Marina. Afraid that this isn't really love…that it's only…only _infatuation_." He spat 'infatuation' as though it were a curse. "I wonder if one day you won't just wake up and…_not_ love me."

         I thought about this for a while. My thoughts were quite jumbled on the subject, and they still are. The answer I gave Julian probably wasn't the one he wanted or needed to hear. But I value honesty above desire. Even in his case.

         "I can't promise you that won't happen," I said finally, sadly. Julian nodded solemnly. "I know it's not what you hoped I'd say, but it's the truth."

         "Which is more important," he agreed firmly. Suddenly he smiled. "I have an idea."

         "Go on," I said, wondering what he could possibly have thought of that related to this situation.  

         "Come back to Hesperia with me," he said in a pleading tone. My eyes went wide, and my mouth fell open in shock.

         "What? But…Julian…I…I _live_ here…this is my home, my family…" 

         "I know. But you could become a part of my family, Marina. You wouldn't have to worry about Conservato, or whether or not Lemuria would be sealed, or have other people always feeling sorry for you. You could live a normal life."

         "This isn't like asking to walk down the beach with you, you know," I snapped, astonished at my own harsh tones. "This is a major decision."

         "I only ask that you think about it," he said gently, rising. I stood as well, aware that it was late, that I should be heading home. Smiling, he kissed my hand. "I love you, Marina," he said as I turned to go. I didn't need to say anything—he knew where my heart lay. 

         _To run away with Julian…it would be like a dream. The sort of thing you read about in fantasy books. It would mean a chance to be with him as long as we were alive…to spend every waking moment with him…in a place where no one knew that I was different, and in fact I might not be._

         _But it would also mean losing my mother and father, and Leon, Maya and Robin. And my friends, John, Luke and Rebecca. And Iason…more than a friend, but he does not love me as Julian does. Iason might as well be my second brother. _

         _My parents would murder me themselves if they found out that Julian and I even knew each other as more than acquaintances, perhaps friends. I only hope my secret can remain secret until the right time._

************************************************************************

Vil: Well…that was interesting. Never thought it would come out quite like that…anyway, review all of you!


	9. Julian

My Wish for You

A/N: Been too long. Lost train of thought. Had to find new train, conductor, coal shovelers, passengers and caboose-jumper. Still missing that last one, but the train's running. But many thanks to my…_reviewers_!! Sixty-four reviews in eight chapters is phenomenal!

**Alayea:** Don't put a hole in your wall. That would be bad. Very bad.

**Shiro:** This Robin has nothing whatsoever to do with Isaac. If he did, Picard might actually never have been born, which would then defeat the purpose of this whole dang thing. But I'm glad to know you like this so much. 

**General Failure:** Actually, right now it's only three fics and one of them is entirely completed. It's not too hard, as long as you ignore the constant pizza delivery…anyway…an email saying I updated might not be a bad idea.

**Elena:** You'd have never expected? Funny…they seem perfect for each other, don't they?

**Jupiter Sprite: **I do wonder whether Marina would run away. But then how would that explain her death in Lemuria?

**Midnight:** It still works. They didn't break up with one another or anything. They're still in love and stuff.

I know there are more reviewers, but this is taking up serious space, and I figure you want to get to the story. So get to it!

Chapter Nine: Julian

17 July, Year 27, Mercury Century

         _It is believed by some scholars that history, when left to rot on ancient pieces of paper, bound in ancient books and sitting on dust-covered shelves in decrepit libraries, has a tendency to become repetitive._

_         History repeats itself. I find that hardly likely. After all, if history repeated itself than there'd be more than one Lemurian like _me_, wouldn't there? And there would be many more wars, each one already having an inevitable victor before war was even declared, because it would be history in the repetitive process._

         _I know I'm being overly dramatic about it. But still. _

         Little Robin is learning to walk. It's amazing how much he's grown in just over a year. Everyone, including me, calls him that—Little Robin. We don't see many robins (the bird) here on Lemuria—most of the birds here are tropical ones. Well, Leon has a couple of snowy-white birds that can carry letters, but that's about it.

         Father's teaching me, in a manner of speaking, how to captain a boat. Granted, captain is a bit of a formal term where a fishing boat's concerned, and it's hard to remember everything sometimes, but there's a degree of fun in it. I can't wait for the day when my boat…that is, when I can take it out on my own.

         Then again, after today, that day might be long in coming. 

         We were out at around noon, and just about everyone was eating lunch—I was not included in this everyone, as I was watching Robin and that requires total concentration—and one of the sailors shouted that there was a storm fast approaching.

         I remembered that comment, made to me years ago, about history repeating itself, and I was hoping that it wasn't, because we didn't have a Jupiter Adept on board and as far as I knew Julian couldn't raise a barrier. 

         Yes, he'd come with us, much like Aaron used to. He often did, more often in recent years…it was obvious, to me anyway, why this was. Of the entire population of Lemuria, there are only three people I've been able to trust, and then only after a long time, with my little 'secret', and they are Leon, Maya and Iason. 

         Leon, as usual, passed no judgment other than, if it made me happy, then he was ok with it. Maya was present as well, and while she didn't think it was quite usual, it was no problem for her either.

         But when I told Iason, and it was quite by accident, he looked as though his world had just fallen apart around him and he'd been crushed by some of the larger pieces. When he looks at me now, the light fades from his eyes and he becomes like an empty shell. When he speaks to me, his jokes hold no humor, his stories no wonder, his opinions no conviction. It's almost like I'm not even there.

         I had Robin in my arms, and we were standing at the railing, he banging on it while I tried to figure out whether the storm would hit us or simply pass over. It looked as though it would be close—we might skim the edge of it (or rather, the edge of it might skim _us_) but we'd not find ourselves at its center. 

         In the usual dark irony that has become life, the wind shifted then, and quite strongly. The storm moved with it, coming towards us at an alarming speed. Lightning flashed in the clouds, and as though the thunder that followed it were a signal, the rain came. It began to pour down in sheets, though the wind abated, but the waves began to rise seemingly of their own accord, crashing into the ship so violently I nearly fell over the rail.

         "Marina!" I heard a voice cry, and instantly two strong hands grabbed Robin and me, pulling us away and more towards the middle of the deck, where everyone was hurriedly preparing to face a storm. I turned to thank the owner of that pair of hands and found my eyes met by intense violet ones—violet overlaying silver. Iason.

         "I didn't even know you had come," I said, shocked. I thought he hated me, was angry with me for being in love with someone who wasn't Lemurian. And here he was trying to rescue me. 

         "Marina, this storm looks terrible," Iason said, staring at the dark clouds with a look of determination that only he possessed. It was as though, had the situation not been so serious, he'd have been enjoying himself. "You should get below with Maya, and take Robin with you."

         "I can help," I protested. "I'm just as good as any of you with Psynergy." 

         "I will not risk that, Marina," Iason said, fixing me with his intense gaze. "I won't put…the only thing…I won't put you in danger," he said firmly, opening the door to the stairs that led below. I had little choice but to do as he asked—perhaps he'd act friendlier if I complied. 

         "Robin!" Maya cried as I came to the bottom of the stairs. I handed her her son, and she smiled at me. Above us, the storm raged. At one point I heard something crash into the wall from the outside. After a while, all grew quiet, and I stood and walked up the stairs. Opening the door, I was shocked at the scene before me. 

         The boat lay practically in ruin. Rails had been entirely knocked off, the nets were shredded, and not a person was still standing. The skies, however, were clear, the bright sun reflecting off the now-calm ocean.

         "Leon!" I cried, and he stood, frowning. I ran to him, and he returned my embrace strongly. "Leon, father's boat! And all the crew! What are we going to do?" Letting go of him, I looked around again. 

         "We'll be alright. The winds picked up and crashed us right into Lemuria. Iason and Benjamin went to find father and tell everyone. They'll come back with help."

         "Can't we do something?" I asked, though I knew my suggestion was worthless. Neither Leon nor I excelled at using the healing side of Mercury Psynergy. Where Leon had just never been interested, for many years now I'd been repulsed by the idea. What good would it do me, I'd decided, if I couldn't use it to get rid of my stupid defect? 

         Apparently, more than I'd thought of at the time. "Why did you send Iason?" I asked. "_He_ could have helped more than the both of us put together."

         "I didn't want to go myself and have you wondering about where I was. And…I didn't want to leave Maya and Robin," Leon added, almost apprehensively, as though I might get angry.

         "You have a really good point," I began, but I stopped in the middle of that and just stared. Julian was nowhere to be found. "Where?" I asked, and Leon sighed resignedly. "You know, brother. Tell me." 

         "Iason and Ben took Julian with them," he said, but his gaze avoided mine. There was something he wasn't saying, and simply because he wasn't saying it I knew it couldn't have been good.

         "Leon. The truth, and all of it. Why isn't Julian here?" 

         "A piece of the rail flew off and hit him in the head, and it was hard enough to send him flying into the wall of the hold. Better he go with them than stay here."

         "He…he's alive?"

         "He was when they left with him." Leon's tone was casual, but it nearly had me in tears. _A lot of good crying will do you_, I thought angrily. _So much for always being prepared, too. _

         "Leon!" called a voice. Leon and I looked up to see Iason returning, followed by a dozen or so Lemurians, including King Hydros. Thankfully, and strangely, Conservato was nowhere to be seen. 

         _After about an hour everyone was off the wrecked boat, and Leon and father walked off to talk about what in the world we were going to do now, now that our fishing days had met an end. I snuck out of the house, rather relieved to be away from mother's constant pestering, and went about as quietly as I could, looking for any sign of where Julian might be_.

         I peered into the windows of one house, and I saw Iason inside, talking to a worried-looking woman with a young girl clinging to her skirt. I was surprised as my heart seemed to flutter, and at first I was even frightened. But then, just curious. What had that been about?

         In another window were a woman and a man eating dinner together, smiling as though no one existed except them. This filled me with sadness. This was what I wanted—someone who would love me despite my differences, and perhaps even because of them.

         And finally I came to the palace. _No way he's in there_, I thought, but I looked inside anyway, being carefully silent so I did not alert the guards. I could not, however, control my gasp when I saw the scene through the glass.

         Julian lay in a bed, pale and unmoving, and his father, looking more worn that ever I'd seen him before, stood nearby. King Hydros himself was present, and yet again Conservato was absent. 

         I felt a hand close itself over my mouth, and I struggled hard not to scream of panic. "Don't move," said a familiar voice. "It's only me. It's Darien. Come with me." Obediently, I nodded and followed him into the palace, keeping my eyes focused on the floor, and into what must have been the library. Darien sat down at a table and fixed me with an intent violet stare. I sat across from him and returned the gaze.

         "Why are you here?" he asked in a whisper.

         "I thought Jupiter Adepts could see the future," I hissed back.

         "They can. I saw this coming, but I never saw you as part of it. It's dangerous for you to be here. They might think you were somehow involved. Your people are very suspicious, Marina."

         "You saw this coming and didn't try to stop it?" I said loudly. Darien motioned for quiet.

         "I saw it as your boat was leaving the dock, Marina. I could hardly run all the way there and stop it myself. You shouldn't be here. In the morning, my father, brother and I will leave for Hesperia."

         "But why? Surely…surely whatever happened to Julian…it can't be all that bad…it can be _fixed_…anything can, just anything…" Tears dripped onto the table, and eventually rolled off and fell to the floor, but I couldn't stop them. " Surely he won't die just by being hit in the head…he can't…I _love_ him, Darien!" I cried, and Darien nodded solemnly.

         "It goes beyond simply being injured, Marina," he said quietly. "But I know my brother well, and I know that he will make every attempt to come back to you. All the same, it is imperative that we leave as soon as possible, and that is tomorrow, at dawn." Darien hesitated before finishing. "He may very well die on the voyage, Marina."

         "Can I…can I say goodbye?" I asked meekly. "Can I see him, just, just once, one last time?" 

         "I'm afraid not," said King Hydros. I jumped out of my chair and spun around, facing the elderly man. "Marina, you must understand. There are factors absent now that may come into play very soon, and if the three of them are not gone before tomorrow they may all be quite gone in a week or so."

         I did understand this. Conservato had gone away. By tomorrow, he'd be back. If word of this got around, there would be death. "Yes, King Hydros," I said sadly.

         "If you need me," said Darien in a voice quite unlike his own, "send a messenger."

         "Yes," I said numbly, walking slowly out of the palace and down the road towards home. I was caught in strong arms halfway there. I didn't know who they belonged to, but they were familiar, and in those arms I was allowed to cry.

         "Why didn't they let me help them?" I asked angrily. "I might have prevented this from happening. I might have been able to help!"

         "Nonsense," said a familiar voice. I looked up, shocked. "I could never let you do that, Marina. Never."

         "Why?" 

         "You are far too important to me, Marina. To lose you would be like losing the sun," Iason said, giving me a smile. "Go on home. Your family's all asleep now, and they won't know you were gone."

         "Good night, Iason," I said as I hurried away.

         "Good night, Marina!" he called back.

         _I am lucky. We all are. No one has yet died from what has happened, and Conservato need never find out. For this, I am happy._

         _But I have lost my love, the one person who could overlook my differences and see me for the person I really am. For that, I cry late into the night, and even now, when the sun begins to rise anew and I know that Aaron and his sons are setting off for Hesperia. _

         _And with them goes my heart_.

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Well? Like it? I hope so—it was very sad. Anyone else picking up on anything…new?? And _where_ was Conservato? I wonder. Now review, or you may never find out. *Evil cackle*


	10. A Road not Mine for Walking

My Wish for You

A/N: This chapter is dedicated to Shiro Amayagi, who not only loves this story but has this chapter as a birthday present. Enjoy!!

**Alayea:** I'd love to punch his lights out. Maybe someone'll do that soon.

**Elena: **Well I'm glad you knew where evil C was because I didn't. Mind telling me?

**Lyon:** A thousand thanks. Your compliments mean a lot to me.

**Midnight:** Well…you sort of get to see in this one. Sort of.

And to the other seven reviewers, eight if you count Akiko's twice…THANKS FOR REVIEWING!

*Sings Happy Birthday to Shiro and then tells them to get on with the reading*

Chapter Ten: A Road not Mine for Walking

25 September, Year 32, Mercury Century 

            _If I've learned anything after so many years, it's never to take anything at face value. A sentence can sound like an insult but in actuality be a compliment buried under layers of jealousy. A gesture of friendship can be misread as an act of aggression. An innocent comment can be read into too far and cause false sadness or joy._

            _The same is true for happenings. Being on the edge of a hurricane can bring about fear of insanely high winds and torrential downpour, but indeed all that might happen are a few scattered breezes and a steady, almost rhythmic rain. _

            _Personal experience is a remarkable thing._

            It was drawing closer to my birthday, but I hardly thought about that anymore. Birthdays almost became unimportant when you were practically ageless. Though apparently after fifty years or so the spring water really kicks in and every twenty years in time is one year of aging…I don't know. I suppose I'll find out when I'm sixty-seven. 

            I walked out along the beach, just sort of following it nowhere and everywhere and wondering why, at low tide, was the high tide line so close to the water, when it should be six or seven feet farther down the beach? 

            I stopped at a group of large rocks that extended into the water and watched quietly as on the other side my mother's best friend, Amalia, and her two children played in the sand and in the water. The little girl kept running back and forth and letting out a delighted shriek at the water's cold temperature. The boy, older than his sister but not by much, stood beaming proudly at a sculpture he'd made in the sand. 

            I sighed almost longingly. I wanted this. Children, laughter, happiness…just a day to spend in the sunlight with people I loved more than anything. Currently that consisted of Leon and his son, and the former was busy teaching the latter how to climb into the big tree and jump into the fallen leaf pile. 

            And thinking about people I loved more than anything took my mind down a road that I vowed years ago I'd never walk again. I've never been as happy as when I'd walk down the beach with him…meet him secretly on nights when my parents thought I'd already gone to bed…picturing his face in my mind and smiling at the way it made me feel inside…I stopped myself. A promise was a promise—that road was no longer mine to travel.

            I turned to walk in the other direction then and bumped smack into Iason. Literally. Both of us blushed embarrassedly and blurted out an apology, and then quickly reassured each other that it was alright, neither of us had to apologize. 

            I looked up at him—I'd always been a bit short, and Iason was tall, maybe even six feet or so—and saw that his eyes were dark with concern.

            "Look, I'm alright, really," I said, half-laughing. He shook his head.

            "This isn't about that. There's a storm coming," he said gravely.

            "There're always tons of storms this time of year," I said casually. "Another one won't make much different except the mud will get muddier, if that's even possible."

            "It isn't just a storm," he said, shaking his head again as though not wanting to believe what he was saying. "It's a hurricane. A big one."

            "How do you know?" I asked, curious. I'd been around during a hurricane once before, but there wasn't much I remembered of it. I was only a child at the time. 

            "Some of the boats have seen it approaching. Hurricanes aren't fun, Marina," Iason said grimly. "The clouds above you get dark and start to circle around, and the winds picks up and creates little leaf cyclones, and then the rain begins to fall, slowly at first, just a drizzle, but then it picks up into a steady downpour and the wind's fast enough to sweep a person off his feet or knock over a tall tree onto someone's house." 

            "It's going to cross right over us?" I asked, still not at all worried. Nothing could ravage Lemuria, save time itself. 

            "The leading edge is going to hit and then it will sort of curve around the south side of the island," Iason confirmed. "We've all been watching it for days. Actually, I'd have liked for you to come out on the boat and seen it from the sea—when you're not in the middle of it, it's really quite fascinating…Marina?"

            But I was running, fast and hard, off down the beach. So many years…nearly ten…and still I could not go near the harbor, could barely even think about boats after what had happened so long ago.

            _How can it hurt so much, still? I was younger then, less in control; I am older now. I should be able to handle this, to push aside the sadness and the pain and even the anger of my loss. It shouldn't _matter _so much anymore. _

            _But it does. It's a rare day indeed when I don't think about him…about Julian…all he meant to me, how kind he was, how wonderful, how he didn't see me as…as defective…or weak, or freakish. He thought I was perfect, and I thought the same of him_.

            _What's worse is Iason. I can't even look at him now without blushing and looking away. I think I might have feelings for him, but in my heart…I believe my heart still loves Julian. There is still the chance of his return…I know he'd not like my being attached to anyone else. I was and still am his, and his alone._

            _And a part of me is afraid to fall in love again. So much of my life—from my birth defect to my recent losses—seems to have been cursed, I'm afraid it can only end in tragedy_.

            I was at Leon's house with him and Maya when the hurricane hit. Robin was outside playing, and I ran out to get him. I looked around, but he wasn't there, so I ran out onto the road, calling for him as the rain began. It was as Iason said—the wind and rain escalated quickly, and the heavy drops lashed against me as I ran.

            "_Robin!_" I yelled, wiping rain from my eyes as best I could and looking around. "_Robin_!_ If you're playing a game it isn't funny_!" Of course I knew he wasn't playing. He was mischievous, but smarter than that—he wouldn't stay out in this kind of weather. _Maybe he's gone inside someone's house_, I thought wildly, my mind grabbing onto any possibility that didn't involve my nephew in a hurricane. 

            I had nearly come full-circle—the palace was just up on the hill to my left—and there was still no sign of him. I caught sight of the palace again and froze. My face must have been as pale as winter snow—if Robin had gone in there…it wouldn't be promising.

            I ran up the hill as fast as I could, ignoring the little voice that told me it was a really bad idea to be _me and running up a muddy hill in a hurricane. But I had to find out. I had to know._

            And, irony once again prevailing, there he was. The back of his shirt was held by the armored hand of a palace guardsman, and poor Robin's feet were held nearly a foot off the ground. He was kicking back, his heels colliding with and ringing against armor, and the guards in the doorway just laughed. The guard holding him threw him forward, so he landed face down in the mud.

            I screeched, driven by pure fury. It was the sound a bird of prey makes when they've sighted an enemy and proceed to dive on them. And I did just that, only in a bit more inventive of a way—a blast of Psynergy, Freeze Prism, my favorite, soon had the guards' feet frozen to the ground and several helmeted heads stuck in ice that attached them to the doorframe.

            Robin was small for a six-year-old, and I easily picked him up and set him on my back, blasted the guards with a Froth Sphere for good measure, and began my frantic run back toward Leon's house.

            But as I ran, things began to change. The rain slowed, as did the wind, and the sky grew lighter and not as ominous. I was tired from running, and from even that small use of Psynergy, but I kept going anyway. There was no way I was going to lose anyone else because of some stupid rain. Just no way.

            _I got us back to Leon's house alright, except for a while I couldn't get up from the chair I sat in and had to just sort of be wet, but Maya promised me she didn't mind and built up the fire to dry me off. Eventually Robin came out of his room and sat with me. _

            _I was reminded again of how much I wanted a family like my brother's. But I remember the feeling in my heart, when I couldn't find Robin…as though I would die myself if anything had happened to him…and that feeling scares me. I don't quite know why, but it does. _

            _What do you know, it's my birthday in five days. I'll be…I don't know. Some age. I might've lost count, actually. Years aren't really marked for me anymore, so I tend to almost disregard them. I hope that's not an all-too-bad thing._

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Well? Like it? I know it was a bit short but I'm not only on a double deadline but wasn't going to make a depressing chapter on Shiro's birthday. So I wrote this instead! HAPPY BIRTHDAY SHIRO!!!!

Push. The. Button. _NOW._


	11. Among the Stars

My Wish for You

A/N: I know, I know! Pelt me with rotten tomatoes for taking so long! But it's here! Chemistry was draining all my energy but now that's over so I'm back to being my old writer self!! And on that note, the responses to the reviews:

**Shiro:** Well you're welcome. Couldn't think of a better present for you!

**Griffin:** *walks out to get rid of the cherry-red blush* Okay, back now. THANK YOU!!! I'm glad you feel that way about the characters…now get around to reviewing Silver and Gold…pretty please??

**Elena:** Funny you should say that…

But no more hints! READ! HA!

Chapter Eleven: Among the Stars

14 April, Year 36, Mercury Century

            _I don't know what to think. I really don't. I've just been handed the best surprise of my life on a silver tray…and I'm not sure if I even…_

            _I don't know why it took him so long. One minute…we were just sitting there, spying almost, but not really—he agrees with Hydros, that Lemuria should remain open as it has been for centuries. That leads me to wonder how old Hydros really is…I mean, sure, a few centuries are nothing…but he speaks as though he's been around since the beginning of time. Though in  recent years he looks like he's aged quite a lot—his hair is now far more grey than blue_.

            _They still argue about Lemuria. It seems to be all anyone wants to talk about anymore…and more and more, people are siding with Conservato. It frightens me, that they would choose his side, the side of one so…so wrong. He has bad intentions for this island, but no one can see it. It makes me wonder why I can._

            _But he and I were watching them argue. And then we went down to the beach—it's calming to stare into the water, and on some days we catch sight of what remains of the fishing ships, far out in the water. The Sea of Time has become an even more dangerous place lately, with storms at sea nearly three times a week. We were watching clouds gather…_

            "Iason," I said, more of a sigh than a word, and he looked down at me. "In another century, when Robin's grown and there are other children running all about…do you think they'll be living in a sheltered world?"

            "No," Iason said, proud determination in his voice. "I know you, and I know your brother, and the rest of your friends. None of you would ever let Lemuria fall to Conservato's plotting. You and Leon are fighters by nature."

            "Neither would you," I pointed out, grinning impishly up at him. It surprised me how much I noticed his short-cut, tight curls, and how a few of the longer ones strayed from his head and fell across his face, just above his silver-violet eyes.

            "I'm not an aggressive person," he argued, though it wasn't very convincing. "I'd like to watch you all deal your trump card, though. You'll get one eventually, you know. The good guys always do." 

            "Iason!" I laughed. I didn't really know why I was laughing right then, just that I was. It was summer, there was a soft breeze blowing, and with him I didn't feel at all different, or outcast, or anything.

            "Marina!" he countered, laughing as well. "You certainly know how to put the sunshine back in a dark day."

            "Not on purpose," I offered. "In fact, _Iason_," I continued, smirking, "or shall I not get into the irony of your name? After all, it's quite a feat on your parents' parts, thinking of that…"

            "Oh, be quiet," he mumbled, face reddening as he dug the toe of his shoe around in the sand. "You know, I'd change it if I—"

            "Oh no!" I said, laughing and sitting down in the sand. "No, don't change it. I like your name. Better than some of the others here," I added, giggling. Iason sat down beside me, halfheartedly flicking water my way.

            "You're hopeless, you know that? You agree with everything I say, unless you disagree, which you do very firmly and in a way that makes me see it your way almost before I see it mine. How do you _do_ that?"

            "Practice?" I offered. "I don't know! I didn't even know I did it!"

            "Well you do!"

            "And thank goodness I do or you'd be James or Allen or Richard by now!"

            "Maybe I'd like to be James or Allen or Richard now!"

            "But then you'd not be _Iason_! And James or Allen or Richard wouldn't be the same as you, anyway," I added, rolling a stone between my fingers. "Besides, those are rather boring names. Iason is adventurous."

            "Actually, Iason is hungry," he corrected, standing and tossing a few rocks into the water. "I think I'll go have some lunch. Would you like to come?"

            "Sure. I'm hungry too." I rose and followed him to his house. The walk reminded me of how much I loved spring, and the way everything that had gone dormant in winter exploded into bloom again. The fruit trees lining the stone path were blooming with delicate pink and lavender flowers, and the smell was just short of overpowering. And I loved every minute of it.

            Iason stopped in the middle of the path, reached up and touched one of the pale blossoms. I stopped, too, and turned to him, giving him a curious look.

            "Few people ever stop to admire things like this," he said, holding the flower gently with the tips of his fingers. "The small beauties that are overlooked in light of a larger, perhaps darker picture. The little things that nature gives us to admire, but that are rarely even seen because of how one must look differently to see them. Very few people wish to expend the energy to look at things differently, but those that do discover treasure beyond gold.

            "But look," he continued in a quiet voice, a voice touched more by happiness than by any form of concern. "This one, it's wilted. The petals have turned a bit brown at the edges."

            "That is a sad thing," I agreed, joining him next to the tree. Surprisingly, he shook his head. 

            "No. It's not sad at all. You see, it may be wilting, but come summer, this will probably be the first flower to produce a fruit. In fact," he added, with a glance my way, "I'd be willing to bet on it."

            "Oh really. What would you bet me, then?" I asked, and a confident look appeared on Iason's face. 

            "I'd bet you…oh, let's see now…I'd bet you the gold coin I found at the bottom of the Ancient Ruins that day."

            "You were practically in love with that coin!" I protested. "You must be pretty confident in yourself."

            But Iason was laughing. He had thrown his head back and was laughing as loudly and fully as I'd ever heard him laugh. I didn't know why he was laughing, of course, but I felt the need to join him, and so I did. It was good to laugh, especially after the morning we'd had, trying to figure out exactly how far along Conservato was with his 'master plan.' 

            The happy mood followed us all the way to Iason's house, where Rebecca was waiting for us, lunch for herself and Iason set out on the table. She quickly prepared a place for me as well, smiling and saying how good it was to see me, she hadn't seen me in ages and she'd been thinking about whacking her brother for not inviting me sooner.

            "Any news?" she asked. Iason shook his head sadly. "That's too bad. John and Luke said they've heard nothing, either."

            "Nothing about what?" I asked.

            "We've been watching him," Rebecca said, her eyes fixed on the table as she spoke, as though she didn't want to meet mine with hers. "We want to know what kind of power he has over the people, over Psynergy…over things that…that happen here in Lemuria." 

            "Ah," I said, wondering why Iason had not told her of what we had learned that morning, but recognizing that he must have had his reasons for hiding it. "And what do you know?"

            "The things I know are not safe to say, here," Rebecca said, shaking her head slowly. "If, someday, we find a place safe from close ears, then I could and would tell you everything. But it's too risky…"

            "I understand, you know," I said, a tiny bit annoyed. Conservato was ruining lives more than I'd thought he was. A simple lunchtime conversation was even dangerous, now. But what was it, what is it, about him that causes such fear?

            _What does he have over the rest of us that makes him so sure of himself, so ready to assume a position of power? What makes him so opposed to outside influence? He's an outsider! He's not even Lemurian! Why did he, of all people, catch the position less important than none but the king?_

            _I remember now. It was because he made a smart decision for Lemuria. …Wasn't his the decision to open the island to the outside world? Why would he want to change that now? What makes him so…so wrong? So conniving and evil?_

            _Not only that, but how can he keep the island in such constant fear? How can one man do this? He is, after all, only one man. I suppose I'll never know what it is that lets him into their minds like that, gets them on his side. But maybe if we knew, we could…I don't know. Do something._

            Iason walked me home after lunch, but I didn't really have anything to do at home. So I stayed for a while, doing very little that was productive—I did play with the cat and her kittens—I ate a quick dinner alone and then went outside again. The night was warm, and I walked to the highest point on Lemuria—a cliff overlooking the ocean, and the rising sun. Except that now, the sun was setting, so I didn't get to see much except darkness.

            And stars. So many stars. I knew a few of the constellations, but not many. I leaned back against a tree and stared up at the sky, trying to find the one that was supposed to be Mercury. 

            "Not that way," said a voice. I sat up, looked over my shoulder and spotted Iason coming up to where I was. "You haven't spent much time doing this, have you?"

            "Doing what?"

            "Watching the night." He sat on the grass a few feet away and simply laid on his back, his hands beneath his head, and looked up at the sky. "If you do it this way, you don't get a sore neck and shoulders from tilting your head all the time."

            "So you do spend a lot of time doing this?" I asked him as I, too, fell onto my back on the grass, staring up into the endless night.

            "Many nights I've come out here. Nights when I needed to think, or when people were just getting to be too much for me, or when I thought I'd lost hope, or when I just needed some peace, whether with myself or with the sky."

            "That's pretty deep."

            "Doesn't seem right coming from a funny guy like me, does it?" he asked, bitterness in his voice. "That's all most people see, is the funny guy. The comic. Always ready with a joke to make a dark situation a bit less dark."

            "Iason, that also works if you're—"

            "I know. But they don't, see. Most people…they don't know what it means to have peace with the sky. And they'd never be able to picture me out here, lost in either my thoughts or myself, under the stars all night."

            "You stay here all night?" I asked, rather astonished. He nodded, and muttered something that sounded like a yes. "Why?"

            "So I can see the sun rise. After all, if you can't count on that, then it's over." I could tell by the way his voice sounded that he was smiling. Then, he pointed up with one finger. "Look, there's Mercury."

            "Where?" I asked, following his finger. And there it was, one of the few star shapes that I knew. But Iason…he must have known them all. I wondered if it was possible to count the stars. I wondered if he had counted the stars.

            And very slowly, I became lost in the night sky. And I found that I didn't mind at all. It felt like I was flying—walking among the stars.

            I must have fallen asleep, because Iason was shaking my shoulder gently and it felt like it was much later—or perhaps earlier. The sky above was a pale grey and the stars were fading. 

            "Come on," he said, pulling on my hand. I stood and together we walked to the very edge of the cliff, and he gestured toward the ocean. Over it, the sun was just beginning to rise. I barely even noticed that he still held my hand in his.

            We stood together and watched the sun come up. It was the most beautiful sunrise I'd seen in years—for the first time, the darkness that I'd felt at losing Julian was gone, and everything seemed right again. Somehow, Iason's arm ended up around my shoulders, and I didn't want it to move. The world had righted itself again, at least for a while.

            And the colors. Everyone always describes sunsets as pink, orange, and lilac…but this…this was something more. It went beyond description. And I think it was because I was finally seeing it, finally knew that I was supposed to be looking.

            The stand of trees stopped anyone else from seeing it. I knew it did. But I wouldn't have cared if the whole world was watching. Iason's other arm encircled me and his eyes—their color was so out of place in Lemuria, or it had been, until now—his eyes and mine locked on one another.

            "Marina."

            "Iason?"

            "I've been waiting thirty-four years for this, Marina," he said, his voice barely even a whisper. "I've wanted to tell you for so long…but the time never seemed right…"

            "The time's right now."

            "I love you, Marina. With everything in me. I know it must hurt to hear that, I know you probably think you'll lose me like…like you lost Julian…but I know you won't, Marina. As long as I'm alive, you'll never have to worry about sadness or anger again. Just tell me you love me too, and mean it."

            "I do love you, Iason. And I do mean it. Nothing would make me happier than to be with you."

            _And, even though it resembles a sappy love story, we kissed there, in the sunrise. And after all that, I realize that I do love him, that I've loved him all along, even when I thought that Julian and I were meant for one another._

            _And it's perfect. It won't stay perfect forever, I know that. But for right now…it's nice to have something go right. For everyone._

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Well, there you have it. See button? I hope you want to push button. If you want more, you push button. We cool?


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